- the outer coat of sheep, yaks, etc, which consists of short curly hairs
- yarn spun from the coat of sheep, etc, used in weaving, knitting, etc
- cloth or a garment made from this yarn
- (as modifier): a wool dress
- any of certain fibrous materials: glass wool, steel wool
- informal short thick curly hair
- a tangled mass of soft fine hairs that occurs in certain plants
- pull the wool over someone's eyes ⇒ to deceive or delude someone
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
wool /wʊl/USA pronunciation
n. [uncountable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Biologythe fine, soft, curly hair that forms the fleece of some animals, esp. sheep.
- Textilesyarn, a fabric, or a garment of wool.
- something resembling the wool of sheep:steel wool.
- Idioms pull the wool over someone's eyes, to deceive or delude someone.
wool
(wŏŏl),USA pronunciation n.
wool′like′, adj.
- the fine, soft, curly hair that forms the fleece of sheep and certain other animals, characterized by minute, overlapping surface scales that give it its felting property.
- Textilesfabrics and garments of such wool.
- Textilesyarn made of such wool.
- Textilesany of various substances used commercially as substitutes for the wool of sheep or other animals.
- any of certain vegetable fibers, as cotton or flax, used as wool, esp. after preparation by special process (vegetable wool.)
- any finely fibrous or filamentous matter suggestive of the wool of sheep:glass wool; steel wool.
- Biologyany coating of short, fine hairs or hairlike processes, as on a caterpillar or a plant;
pubescence. - Informal Termsthe human hair, esp. when short, thick, and crisp.
- all wool and a yard wide, genuine;
excellent;
sincere:He was a real friend, all wool and a yard wide. - dyed in the wool, inveterate;
confirmed:a dyed in the wool sinner. - pull the wool over someone's eyes, to deceive or delude someone:The boy thought that by hiding the broken dish he could pull the wool over his mother's eyes.
- bef. 900; Middle English wolle, Old English wull(e), cognate with Dutch wol, German Wolle, Old Norse ull, Gothic wulla; akin to Latin lāna, Sanskrit ūrṇā, Welsh gwlân wool, Latin vellus fleece, Greek oúlos woolly
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
wool /wʊl/ n
'wool' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
absorbent cotton
- afghan
- alpaca
- astrakhan
- ball
- Balmoral
- barathea
- beige
- belly
- beret
- berlin
- bin
- Botany wool
- bouclé
- braid
- broadcloth
- Bruges
- Brussels carpet
- bull's wool
- burl
- card
- carminative
- carpet
- cashmere
- challis
- Cheviot
- clip
- cloth
- coat
- comb
- comber
- combings
- Cotswolds
- cotton bud
- cotton wool
- Courtelle
- cravat
- crutch
- crutchings
- daglock
- dalmatic
- double knitting
- duffel coat
- dump
- dyed-in-the-wool
- fadge
- Fair Isle
- felt
- fez
- flannel