A dialectal or archaic term referring to a wool-like fabric or fleece, primarily used in British English.
From 'wool' plus the diminutive or descriptive suffix '-sey' or '-sy.' The exact etymology is uncertain, but it appears to be a regional British term that combined 'wool' with local naming conventions.
Woolsey is genuinely obscure even in historical dictionaries—this might be a word that was popular in one region but never spread nationally, showing how English constantly lost regional vocabulary as technology and mass media made dialects less isolated.
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