woolly

Etymology 1

From Middle English wolly, equivalent to wool + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian wullich (“woolly”), Dutch wollig (“woolly”), German wollig (“woolly”), Swedish ullig (“woolly”).

adj

1. Made of wool.
   Put on a woolly jumper and turn down the thermostat.
   Sporting a woolly cardigan with four buttons on top of an Oxford smock without a collar, our man has a faintly folksy look about him, calling to mind a zingaro or a gypsy, a carny or a Mongol, but also (switching to a wholly distinct mythology and iconography) a hippy strumming his guitar in a barroom in Haight-Ashbury or at Big Sur or in Katmandu. 1995 [1969], Gilbert Adair, transl., A Void, translation of La Disparition by Georges Perec
2. Having a thick, soft texture, as if made of wool.
   woolly hair
   There was nothing left in the fruit bowl but a brown banana and a couple of woolly pears.
   My skin is black / My arms are long / My hair is woolly / My back is strong 1966, Nina Simone (lyrics and music), “Four Women”, in Wild Is the Wind
3. (figurative, of thinking, principles, etc.) Based on emotions rather than logic.
   That's the sort of woolly thinking that causes wars to start.
4. (figurative) Unclear, fuzzy, hazy, cloudy.
   To call David Lean's Dr Zhivago a translation of Pasternak's novel is not only to disregard the specificity of film art, but to make such woolly use of the word ‘translation’ as to fit it to refer to any kind of transformation. Knitting included. 2011, David Bellos, chapter 29, in Is that a Fish in Your Ear?
5. (obsolete) Clothed in wool.

noun

1. (informal) A sweater or similar garment made of wool.
   `I've got a rotten cold and I'm not taking my woollies off until it's better.' 1965, James Holledge, What Makes a Call Girl?, London: Horwitz Publications, page 82
   Being an innocent Australian abroad in a European winter, I had taken with me every winter woolly I could borrow or squeeze out of friends and associates. 1987, Kerry Cue, Hang On To Your Horses Doovers, page 83
2. (US, slang) A sheep not yet shorn.
3. A piece of woolwork.

Etymology 2

From woolly back.

noun

1. (Liverpool slang, derogatory) A woolly back; someone from the area around Liverpool, not from Liverpool itself.