woolgathering
1
9.5
- noun
- /ˈwuːlˌɡæðərɪŋ/
- Archaic
:
soñar despierto
- Don't stand there woolgathering.
Examples
-
Back and forth for hours—maybe reading, maybe just thinking, which he claims to do all the time and does not want mistaken for woolgathering.
Fiction book (1991) -
During the meeting, several participants drifted into woolgathering, imagining their next vacation instead of discussing the project.
-
To think otherwise is foolish woolgathering.
Blog text (1) -
"Woolgathering, I guess."
Fiction book (1998) -
Self-conscious about my woolgathering, I touched a key and the image on the screen was replaced by a graph of pile growth rates at each of the five shitdog sites.
Fiction book (1999) -
Her woolgathering often led her to lose track of time while sketching dreamlike landscapes in her notebook.
-
John's tendency for woolgathering made it difficult for him to focus on his homework at the kitchen table.
Synonyms
5
6.1
A slow walk or a time of thinking without a clear plan
1
3.2
Thinking about pleasant things while not paying attention
Antonyms
- Specialized
211
4.0
How much work, goods, or services are produced for the time and effort used
How Distracted
Surface Forms
Morphology
woolgathering = woolgather (opaque) = wool + gather + ing
Formed from the compound 'wool' + 'gather' with the verbal -ing; the structure is clear but the jump to the figurative sense is not fully predictable.
Etymology
Woolgathering comes from people who used to walk fields and pick loose wool from hedges, a slow, wandering job. So a woolgathering is 'daydreaming' — being lost in thought and not doing practical work.