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Glite Dictionary
🧵 A dense fabric 🧵 To cover with fabric 🧶 To mat fibers
to felt

to felt

1 8.1
To make wool or other fibers mat together and form a thick cloth
  • verb
  • /fɛlt/
translation icon : fieltrar
  • BUT I ALWAYS FELT SAFE KNOWING THAT.

Examples

  • I HAVEN'T FELT THIS GOOD SINCE I WAS 10.

    Big Bully (1996)

  • Since this is an all-natural wool yarn, it too is suitable for felting.

    Blog text (7)

  • MAKE SURE YOU PUT A COAT ON HER BECAUSE SHE FELT KIND OF COLD TO ME.

    Heaven's Prisoners (1996)

  • I FELT NAKED UP THERE.

    On the Line (2001)

  • Their felted boots had toes that pointed up and notches in their shaped soles.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • This is the second pet bed I've knitted—the first one never ended up being felted because my dog, Gidget, likes it just the way it is.

    Blog text (11)

  • The artist decided to felt the wool to create a textured surface for her sculpture.

  • You can felt the fibers together to make a warm and durable fabric for winter clothes.

  • After washing, the wool would felt into a dense material suitable for making hats.

Synonyms

to matte
vsto felt
1 8.4

To make cloth or fur form tight, tangled patches from rubbing

does not stress moisture or friction as the cause
to mat
vsto felt
1 4.9

To become tangled into a thick mass, especially hair or fur

focuses on fibers interlocking into a solid fabric rather than loose tangles
to mat up
vsto felt
6.1

Hair or fabric becomes tangled and stuck together into a thick mass

involves fibers joining into a dense fabric rather than just pressed tangles

Compounds

felt tip
2 3.0

A pen with a soft cloth tip used for drawing or coloring

felt hat
1 2.4

A hat made from soft wool with a crease in the top

felt-tip pen
1 2.1

A pen with a soft felt tip for writing or drawing

felt-tipped pen
1 3.0

A tool for writing or drawing with a soft tip that makes bold lines

black felt cup
  • UK
9.9

A small black, cup-shaped mushroom that grows on dead wood in damp forests

felt fern
  • UK
9.5

A green plant from East Asia with soft leaves shaped like tongues

felt fungus
  • US
9.9

A soft, felt-like white growth on twigs and branches, often on orange trees

How Matted

to felt
1 8.1
to tangle
46 3.7

Surface Forms

felt infinitive
felt past
felt past participle
felting present participle
felts third person singular

Etymology

To felt in the sense of becoming matted comes from the original idea of making a 'mat' of fibres by rubbing and pressing them together. So when yarn or fur 'felts', it means the fibres have joined into a thick, tight cloth, which is why a sweater can shrink and feel rough after felting.