short wool
1. Wool having a short staple or fibre.
| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Woollen Manufactory, A Pack, or 240 Pounds Weight of short Wool. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 358/2 In 1828 the number of packs of short wool had diminished to 2800. 1912 Times 19 Dec. 20/3 The finer varieties of short wools. |
2. (Hyphened.) A sheep producing such a wool.
| 1837 Youatt Sheep ix. 351 A few of the short-wools were left. 1844 W. C. Spooner Sheep 72 [The South Down breed] ranks with the Leicester—the former first among the short⁓wools. |
3. attrib.
| 1824 Banks in Bischoff Woollen Manuf. (1842) II. 55 Any drawback so obtained must operate as a bounty to the English short-wool grower. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 358/1 Various breeds of short-wool sheep still prevail on the hills of Devonshire and Cornwall. |
Hence short-woolled a.
| 1787 Young's Ann. Agric. VIII. 199 The South Downs..are, for that point, the best short-woolled sheep which I know in England. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 359/2 One other breed of short-woolled sheep must be mentioned. |