woolly back

Meaning

Noun

Related

Similar words

Origin

  • The Liverpool Echo suggests two possible origins for the term, both dating back to the early 1900s:
  • It may be a term for scab workers brought into the city from surrounding towns to manually load and unload ships in the Liverpool docks; unloading ships, the dockers would carry the woollen bales on their backs, leaving wool on their clothes.
  • It may be a term for men who delivered coal into Liverpool from mines surrounding the city, who wore sheep fleece to protect their backs.
  • Another suggestion is that it could have originated in the Middle Ages from non-resident Welsh and English people trying to avoid the entry fee at the Chester city walls on market day by sneaking in the livestock entrance with a sheep on their back.

Modern English dictionary

Explore and search massive catalog of over 900,000 word meanings.

Word of the Day

Get a curated memorable word every day.

Challenge yourself

Level up your vocabulary by setting personal goals.

And much more

Try out Vedaist now.