Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—W

Wool

Dyed in the wool. A hearty good-fellow. Cloth which is wool-dyed (not piece-dyed), is true throughout “and will wash.”

No wool is so white that a dyer cannot blacken it.
No one is so free from faults that slander can find nothing to say against him; no book is so perfect as to be free from adverse criticism.

Maister Mainwaring's much abuzed,
Most grievously for things accuse,
And all the dowlish [devilish] pack;
E'en let mun all their poison spit,
My lord, there is no wooll zo whit
That dyers can't make black.

Peter Pindar: Middlesex Election, letter iii.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Wool-gathering
Woodwardian Professor
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