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woolgathering - 6 dictionary results

wool⋅gath⋅er⋅ing

[wool-gath-er-ing]
–noun
1. indulgence in idle fancies and in daydreaming; absentmindedness: His woolgathering was a handicap in school.
2. gathering of the tufts of wool shed by sheep and caught on bushes.

Origin:
1545–55; wool + gathering

wool⋅gath⋅er

[wool-gath-er]
–verb (used without object)
to engage in woolgathering.

Origin:
1840–50; by back formation from woolgathering


wool⋅gath⋅er⋅er, noun
wool·gath·er   (wŏŏl'gāth'ər)   
intr.v.   wool·gath·ered, wool·gath·er·ing, wool·gath·ers
To engage in fanciful daydreaming.
wool'gath'er·er n.

Woolgathering

Wool"gath`er*ing\, a. Indulging in a vagrant or idle exercise of the imagination; roaming upon a fruitless quest; idly fanciful.

Woolgathering

Wool"gath`er*ing\, n. Indulgence in idle imagination; a foolish or useless pursuit or design.

His wits were a woolgathering, as they say. --Burton.

woolgathering 
1553, "indulging in wandering fancies and purposeless thinking," from the lit. meaning "gathering fragments of wool torn from sheep by bushes, etc."
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