wool (n.)

wool (adj.)

Or shear swine, all cry and no wool.

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 852.

Many go out for wool, and come home shorn themselves.

Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616): Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvii.

All cry and no wool.—Butler: Hudibras, part i. canto i. line 852.

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act iv. Sc. 1.

It is for homely features to keep home,—

They had their name thence; coarse complexions

And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply

The sampler and to tease the huswife's wool.

What need a vermeil-tinctur'd lip for that,

Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn?

John Milton (1608-1674): Comus. Line 748.

My thoughts ran a wool-gathering; and I did like the countryman who looked for his ass while he was mounted on his back.

Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616): Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lvii.

Have you summoned your wits from wool-gathering?

Thomas Middleton (1580-1627): The Family of Love. Act v. Sc. 3.