Lambswool
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The wool of a lamb. uncountable
- 2 A festive drink of ale mixed with the pulp of roasted apples.
"1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 82-85, Well Masters if you will eate nothing take away: Come, what doo we to passe away the time? Lay a crab in the fire to rost for Lambes-wooll […]"
- 3 A textile or garment made of wool from a lamb. broadly, countable
Example
More examples"1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 82-85, Well Masters if you will eate nothing take away: Come, what doo we to passe away the time? Lay a crab in the fire to rost for Lambes-wooll […]"
Etymology
From lamb + -s- + wool.
Probably identical to Etymology 1, referring to the layer of froth that is produced in making the drink, though starting with Charles Vallancey in 1786, historically supposed to be a corruption of an earlier lamasool or La Maes Abhal "Day of the Apple Fruit" (corresponding to Irish lá measa abhla).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.