woollen manufacture

The act of forming wool into cloth and stuff. The fabrics woven from short wools are distinctively called woollens; those from long wools are termed worsteds. [WORSTED.] The manufacture of cloth was known to the ancient Greeks, Romans, the Hindus, the Jews, . (Lev. xiii. 47, 48, xix. 19; Deut. xxii. 11), but among these people it was chiefly a domestic manufacture. In all probability the Romans first introduced it into Britain. There is little historic mention of it before the thirteenth century. Edward III. improved IMG:content-1009.png:[blocks in formation] woold, s. [WELD (1).]