Wool n.
 1. The soft and curled, or crisped, species of hair which grows on sheep and some other animals, and which in fineness sometimes approaches to fur; -- chiefly applied to the fleecy coat of the sheep, which constitutes a most essential material of clothing in all cold and temperate climates.
 Note: ☞ Wool consists essentially of keratin.
 2. Short, thick hair, especially when crisped or curled.
    Wool of bat and tongue of dog.   --Shak.
 3. Bot. A sort of pubescence, or a clothing of dense, curling hairs on the surface of certain plants.
 Dead pulled wool, wool pulled from a carcass.
 Mineral wool. See under Mineral.
 Philosopher's wool. Chem. See Zinc oxide, under Zinc.
 Pulled wool, wool pulled from a pelt, or undressed hide.
 Slag wool. Same as Mineral wool, under Mineral.
 Wool ball, a ball or mass of wool.
 Wool burler, one who removes little burs, knots, or extraneous matter, from wool, or the surface of woolen cloth.
 Wool comber. (a) One whose occupation is to comb wool. (b) A machine for combing wool.
 Wool grass Bot., a kind of bulrush (Scirpus Eriophorum) with numerous clustered woolly spikes.
 Wool scribbler. See Woolen scribbler, under Woolen, a.
 Wool sorter's disease Med., a disease, resembling malignant pustule, occurring among those who handle the wool of goats and sheep.
 Wool staple, a city or town where wool used to be brought to the king's staple for sale. [Eng.]
 Wool stapler. (a) One who deals in wool. (b) One who sorts wool according to its staple, or its adaptation to different manufacturing purposes.
 Wool winder, a person employed to wind, or make up, wool into bundles to be packed for sale.

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 Zinc n.  Chem. An abundant element of the magnesium-cadmium group, extracted principally from the minerals zinc blende, smithsonite, calamine, and franklinite, as an easily fusible bluish white metal, which is malleable, especially when heated. It is not easily oxidized in moist air, and hence is used for sheeting, coating galvanized iron, etc. It is used in making brass, britannia, and other alloys, and is also largely consumed in electric batteries. Symbol Zn. Atomic number 30. Atomic weight 65.38. [Formerly written also zink.]
 Butter of zinc Old Chem., zinc chloride, ZnCl2, a deliquescent white waxy or oily substance.
 Oxide of zinc. Chem. See Zinc oxide, below.
 Zinc amine Chem., a white amorphous substance, Zn(NH2)2, obtained by the action of ammonia on zinc ethyl; -- called also zinc amide.
 Zinc amyle Chem., a colorless, transparent liquid, composed of zinc and amyle, which, when exposed to the atmosphere, emits fumes, and absorbs oxygen with rapidity.
 Zinc blende [cf. G. zinkblende] Min., a native zinc sulphide.  See Blende, n. (a).
 Zinc bloom [cf. G. zinkblumen flowers of zinc, oxide of zinc] Min., hydrous carbonate of zinc, usually occurring in white earthy incrustations; -- called also hydrozincite.
 Zinc ethyl Chem., a colorless, transparent, poisonous liquid, composed of zinc and ethyl, which takes fire spontaneously on exposure to the atmosphere.
 Zinc green, a green pigment consisting of zinc and cobalt oxides; -- called also Rinmann's green.
 Zinc methyl Chem., a colorless mobile liquid Zn(CH3)2, produced by the action of methyl iodide on a zinc sodium alloy.  It has a disagreeable odor, and is spontaneously inflammable in the air. It has been of great importance in the synthesis of organic compounds, and is the type of a large series of similar compounds, as zinc ethyl, zinc amyle, etc.
 Zinc oxide Chem., the oxide of zinc, ZnO, forming a light fluffy sublimate when zinc is burned; -- called also flowers of zinc, philosopher's wool, nihil album, etc. The impure oxide produced by burning the metal, roasting its ores, or in melting brass, is called also pompholyx, and tutty.
 Zinc spinel Min., a mineral, related to spinel, consisting essentially of the oxides of zinc and aluminium; gahnite.
 Zinc vitriol Chem., zinc sulphate.  See White vitriol, under Vitriol.
 Zinc white, a white powder consisting of zinc oxide, used as a pigment.


 philosopher's wool
      n : oxide of zinc; a white powder used as a pigment or in
          cosmetics or glass or inks and in zinc ointment [syn: {zinc
          oxide, flowers of zinc]