Woolgathering is a noun meaning indulgence in idle daydreaming. It originally referred to gathering loose tufts of wool, an activity involving aimless wandering, and over time came to symbolize idle mind-wandering.
Woolgathering es un sustantivo que significa indulgencia en el ensueño ocioso. Originalmente se refería a la recolección de mechones de lana sueltos, una actividad que implicaba vagar sin rumbo, y con el tiempo llegó a simbolizar la vaguedad mental ociosa.
| Word | woolgathering |
|---|---|
| Date | March 7, 2018 |
| Type | noun |
| Syllables | WOOL-gath-uh-ring |
| Etymology | Woolgathering once literally referred to the act of gathering loose tufts of wool that had gotten caught on bushes and fences as sheep passed by. As you might imagine, woolgathering was not the most profitable of enterprises; its practitioners must have seemed to wander aimlessly, gaining little for their efforts. In the mid-16th century, woolgathering began to appear in figurative phrases such as "my wits went a woolgathering"—in other words, "my mind went wandering aimlessly." From there, it wasn't long before the word woolgathering came to suggest foolish or purposeless mind-wandering. |
| Examples | My woolgathering in the backseat was abruptly interrupted by a question from the taxi driver. "I love the feeling of being on a train, the rumble and roar that seem to aid woolgathering, and I never tire of staring out the window, no matter the scenery." — Karl Zimmermann, The Los Angeles Times, 3 Sept. 2017 |
| Definition | : indulgence in idle daydreaming |
Tags: wordoftheday::noun
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