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.”

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”

3. (figuratively)Unclear, fuzzy, hazy, cloudy.

   “That's the sort of woolly thinking that causes wars to start.”

   “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.”

4. (obsolete)Clothed in wool.

   “woolly breeders”

5. (archaic, slang)Cross; irritable.

   “[…] and don't get woolly because some of your little "deals" don't come off. You'd soon consider yourself the superior of God Almighty Himself if He didn't set you in your place once in a while.”

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.'”

   “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.”

2. (US, slang)A sheep not yet shorn.
3. A piece of woolwork.
4. (derogatory)A woolly back; someone from the area around Liverpool, not from Liverpool itself.