dyed-in-the-wool

comparative more dyed-in-the-wool · superlative most dyed-in-the-wool

1. Having the fibres dyed before they are formed into cloth.

   That cloth will keep its colour best that is dyed in the wool; and the vessel will longest retain the scent of that liquor with which it is first seasoned.

   1810 January, “Redeeming the Time”, in The Evangelical Magazine, volume 18, page 7

   1 more example

   […] some Druggets with Thread, that are dyed in the Piece; the others are dyed in the Wool, i. e. the Wool of which they are made, is dyed of several Colours, before it is carded, spun, and weaved.

   1747, John Smith, chapter 156, in Chronicon Rusticum-Commerciale; or, Memoirs of Wool, &c., volume 2, London: T. Osborne, page 431

2. figurativelyidiomaticFirmly established in one's beliefs or habits; having a specified characteristic, identity, etc. deeply ingrained in one's nature.

   John Major was described by his opponents as a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative.

   5 more examples

   Smith was a dyed-in-the-wool typist and never really got used to writing on computers.

   We all know a process, sir, by which the whole Essex Junto could, in one hour, be all washed white from their ancient federalism, and come out, every one of them, an original democrat, dyed in the wool!

   1820, Daniel Webster, A Discourse Delivered at Plymouth, December 22, 1820, Boston: Wells and Lilly, published 1830, page 101

   He might truly be termed a legitimate son of the revenue system, dyed in the wool, or rather, born in the purple; since his sire, a Revolutionary colonel, and formerly collector of the port, had created an office for him, and appointed him to fill it, at a period of the early ages which few living men can now remember.

   1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Introductory”, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 18

   Although appreciating the rapidity and frequency of the Southern electric services I was now to use on short journeys, I became more than ever convinced that electric traction offers very little of interest to the dyed-in-the-wool railwayist.

   1944 November and December, Talisman, “A Broadening Horizon”, in Railway Magazine, page 340

   For all he says he isn’t, he’s a bit of an ultramontane, in practice though not in theory, and we can’t have that in the Church of England, we must stay dyed-in-the-wool Anglican.

   1956, Rose Macaulay, chapter 23, in The Towers of Trebizond, London: Collins

   Synonyms: inveterate