This week’s theme
Words used metaphorically

This week’s words
papier-mache
sough
woolgathering
scabby
flagship

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(WOOL-gath-uh-ring)

MEANING:

noun:
1. Daydreaming.
2. Absentmindedness.

ETYMOLOGY:

From wool, from Old English wull + gathering, from Old English gaderian. Earliest documented use: 1553.

NOTES:

Woolgathering may be aimless wandering of the mind these days, but once it was serious work. It was pulling tufts of wool caught on bushes or fences or left on the ground by sheep. Besides today’s word, the English language has many other ovine-related terms, such as sheep’s eyes and sheeple.

USAGE:

“So lost in her woolgathering, she hadn’t even noticed that her cousin had gone back to rummaging through the trunk.”
Elizabeth Boyle; Confessions of a Little Black Gown; Avon; 2009.

See more usage examples of woolgathering in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: