woolen

What it means

1. USnot comparableMade of wool.

   1 more example

   In a large bedroom upstairs, the window of which was thickly curtained with a great woollen shawl lately discarded by the landlady, Mrs. Rolliver, were gathered on this evening nearly a dozen persons, all seeking vinous bliss; all old inhabitants of the nearer end of Marlott, and frequenters of this retreat.

   1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter IV, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), pages 40–41

2. USnot comparableOf or relating to wool or woolen cloths.

   a woolen mill

   3 more examples

   woolen manufactures

   a woolen draper

   Woolen threads were an occult means, according to the Roman poet Horace, of depriving a person of virility.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 234

In a sentence

In a large bedroom upstairs, the window of which was thickly curtained with a great woollen shawl lately discarded by the landlady, Mrs. Rolliver, were gathered on this evening nearly a dozen persons, all seeking vinous bliss; all old inhabitants of the nearer end of Marlott, and frequenters of this retreat.

1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter IV, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), pages 40–41

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Germanic*wullīnaz“woollen”
2. Old Englishwyllen
3. Middle Englishwollen
4. Englishwoolen

From Middle English wollen, wullen, from Old English wyllen, from Proto-Germanic *wullīnaz (“woollen”), equivalent to wool + -en. Cognate with Scots wollin, wolne, wowne (“woollen”), Dutch wollen (“woollen”), German wollen (“woollen”), Danish uldne (“woollen”), Norwegian Bokmål ullen (“fuzzy; woolen”).