Wool (w?l), n. [OE. wolle, wulle, AS. wull; akin to D. wol, OHG. wolla, G. wolle, Icel. & Sw. ull, Dan. uld, Goth, wulla, Lith. vilna, Russ. volna, L. vellus, Skr. ūrṇā wool, vṛ to cover. √146, 287. Cf. Flannel, Velvet.]

1. The soft and curled, or crisped, species of hair which grows on sheep and some other animals, and which in fineness sometimes approaches to fur; -- chiefly applied to the fleecy coat of the sheep, which constitutes a most essential material of clothing in all cold and temperate climates.

☞ Wool consists essentially of keratin.

2. Short, thick hair, especially when crisped or curled.

Wool of bat and tongue of dog. Shak.

3. (Bot.) A sort of pubescence, or a clothing of dense, curling hairs on the surface of certain plants.

"Dead pulled wool, wool pulled from a carcass. -- Mineral wool. See under Mineral. -- Philosophers wool. (Chem.) See Zinc oxide, under Zinc. -- Pulled wool, wool pulled from a pelt, or undressed hide. -- Slag wool. Same as Mineral wool, under Mineral. -- Wool ball, a ball or mass of wool. -- Wool burler, one who removes little burs, knots, or extraneous matter, from wool, or the surface of woolen cloth. -- Wool comber. (a) One whose occupation is to comb wool. (b) A machine for combing wool. -- Wool grass (Bot.), a kind of bulrush (Scirpus Eriophorum) with numerous clustered woolly spikes. -- Wool scribbler. See Woolen scribbler, under Woolen, a. -- Wool sorters disease (Med.), a disease, resembling malignant pustule, occurring among those who handle the wool of goats and sheep. -- Wool staple, a city or town where wool used to be brought to the kings staple for sale. [Eng.] -- Wool stapler. (a) One who deals in wool. (b) One who sorts wool according to its staple, or its adaptation to different manufacturing purposes. -- Wool winder, a person employed to wind, or make up, wool into bundles to be packed for sale."

-- Webster's unabridged 1913