woohoo (woho′)

The sail-fish: same as boohoo2 (where see cut). wooingly (wö'ing-li), adv. In a wooing manner; enticingly; with persuasivene . Heaven's breath Smells wooingly here. Shak ., Macbeth, i. 6. 6. wookt, n. A Middle English form of week1 . wool (wul), n . [Formerly also wooll ; Sc. woo ; woll , wolle , wulle , wull , wul = OFries. wolle , ulle = D. wol = LG. wulle = OHG. wolla , MHG. G. wolle = Icel. ull = Sw. ull = Dan. uld = Goth. wull a , wool (Teut. * wolla , a imilated from * wolna ), = OBulg. Bulg. vluna = Lith. wilna = Ru . volna = L. villus, shaggy villus, shaggy hair, vellus, a fleece, wool, Skt. ūrnā, wool; lit. a 'covering,' formed, with suffix -na, from a root seen in Skt. ✓ var, cover. Connection with Gr. έριον, wool, είρος, wool, ούλος, woolly, shaggy, thick, etc., is doubtful.] 1. The fine, soft, curly hair which forms the fleece or fleecy coat of the sheep and some other animals, as the goat and alpaca, in finene approaching fur. The wool or fleece of the sheep furnishes the most important material for clothing in all cold and temperate climates. The felting property from which wool derives its chief value, and which is its special distinction from hair, depends in part upon the kinks in the shaft or fiber, but mainly upon the scales with which the surface is imbricated. These scales are minute, from about 2,000 to nearly 4,000 to the inch, and whorled about the stem in verticils; the stem itself is extremely slender, being le than one thousandth of an inch in diameter. Wool is kept soft and pliable by the wool-oil, commonly called yolk. In different animals wool shades by imperceptible degrees into hair; and that of the sheep simply represents an extreme case of the most desirable qualities, namely, finene , kinkine , and scaline of the fiber, together with its length, strength, and luster, and the copiousne of the fleece, which consists entirely of wool, without hair; in all of which particulars the wool of the different breeds of sheep varies to a degree. (Compare def. 2.) Wool when shorn is divided into two cla es, short wool, or carding-wool, seldom exceeding a length of 3 or 4 inches, and long wool, or combing - wool, varying in length from 4 to 8 inches, each cla being subdivided into a variety of sorts, according to the finene and soundne of the staple. The finest wools are of short staple, and the coarser wools usually of long staple. Wools which unite a high degree of finene and softne with considerable length of staple bear a high price. English-bred sheep produce a good, strong combing-wool, that of the Scotch breeds being somewhat harsher and coarser. The finest carding wools were formerly exclusively obtained from Spain, the native country of the merino sheep, and at a later period extensively from Germany, where that breed had been succe fully introduced and cultivated. Immense flocks of merinos are now reared in Australia, North and South America, and South Africa. IMG:content-2546.png:[blocks in formation] 3. The short, crisp, curly or kinky hair of the head of some persons, as negroes; humorously, the hair of any person's head. [Colloq.] From a strange freak of nature, not unusual in these Virgin i an mountains, his knotty wool was of a pale tan color. 4. Any light, downy, fleecy, or flocculent substance resembling wool. (a) The dense furry or woolly coat of many insects, as the pubescence covering the moths known as millers, that on various caterpillars, that spun by various larvæ for a case or cocoon, etc. Se Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 203. woolfist them parallel preparatory to spinning. See card2 and carding2. wool-cleaner (wül'klē"nėr), n. A machine for beating, shaking, and cleaning wool previous to scouring and dyeing; a wool-duster or wool picker. wool-comber (wùl'kō"mer), n. One employed in wool-combing. The act or