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woolly

Adjective
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Covered with soft, fuzzy hairs or fibers; here, looking fuzzy or unopened.

Detailed Definition
Literally, woolly means like wool or covered with soft fibers. Browning uses it for the vine leaf-buds, giving them a soft, textured appearance before they open.
Example
Example in poetry:
“And the leaf-buds on the vine are woolly, / I noticed that, to-day” (Hardy, “The Darkling Thrush”); “woolly” literally describes a soft, fleece-like surface, especially buds, moths, clouds, or animal coats; the tactile adjective slows observation and makes spring growth feel newly visible; a contemporary nature poem might contrast “woolly catkins” with the hard geometry of a city fence
Additional Notes
In this context, "woolly" is used in a descriptive, specialized way for plant buds, which may be less familiar than its everyday sense.; Found in the poem, The Lost Mistress by Robert Browning
Also Known As
fuzzy shaggy downy soft
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