wool

UK: /ˈwʊl/ US: /wʊl/ ,(wŏŏl)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

wool /wʊl/   n. [uncountable]

1. Biology the fine, soft, curly hair that forms the fleece of some animals, esp. sheep.
2. Textiles yarn, a fabric, or a garment of wool.
3. something resembling the wool of sheep:
   steel wool.

Idioms

4. Idioms pull the wool over someone's eyes, to deceive or delude someone.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

wool  (wŏŏl), n. 

1. 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.
2. Textiles fabrics and garments of such wool.
3. Textiles yarn made of such wool.
4. Textiles any of various substances used commercially as substitutes for the wool of sheep or other animals.
5. any of certain vegetable fibers, as cotton or flax, used as wool, esp. after preparation by special process (vegetable wool.)
6. any finely fibrous or filamentous matter suggestive of the wool of sheep:
   glass wool; steel wool.
7. Biology any coating of short, fine hairs or hairlike processes, as on a caterpillar or a plant;
   pubescence.
8. Informal Terms the human hair, esp. when short, thick, and crisp.
9. all wool and a yard wide, genuine;
   excellent;
   sincere:
   He was a real friend, all wool and a yard wide.
10. dyed in the wool, inveterate;
    confirmed:
    a dyed in the wool sinner.
11. 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

wool′like′, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

wool / wʊl/ noun

1. the outer coat of sheep, yaks, etc, which consists of short curly hairs
2. yarn spun from the coat of sheep, etc, used in weaving, knitting, etc
3. cloth or a garment made from this yarn
4. (as modifier): a wool dress
5. any of certain fibrous materials: glass wool, steel wool
6. short thick curly hair
7. a tangled mass of soft fine hairs that occurs in certain plants
8. pull the wool over someone's eyes ⇒ to deceive or delude someone

Etymology: Old English wull; related to Old Frisian, Middle Dutch wulle, Old High German wolla (German Wolle), Old Norse ull, Latin lāna and vellus fleece