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Glite Dictionary
woolgatherer

woolgatherer

9.9
A person who lets their mind wander and often daydreams
  • noun
  • /ˈwuːlˌɡæðərər/
  • Archaic
translation icon : soñador despierto
  • During the long lecture, he was such a woolgatherer that he couldn't remember a single thing the professor said.

Examples

  • His reputation as a woolgatherer made it difficult for his colleagues to take him seriously during meetings.

  • As she gazed out the window, lost in her thoughts, she felt like a true woolgatherer dreaming of far-off places.

  • Conveyor - "Woolgatherer"

    Blog text (32)

  • I thought I had been reconfigured as another when reading Graham's poems, but I find that other is better memoried than the drifter, the woolgatherer.

    Academic text (2015)

Synonyms

daydreamer
vswoolgatherer
1 3.3

A person who often imagines things instead of paying attention

is more about aimless absentminded mental wandering rather than fanciful imagination
navel-gazer
vswoolgatherer
  • Offensive
1 9.6

A person who spends too much time thinking about their own feelings and ignores other people

tends to mean self focused introspection rather than simple absentminded wandering
mooner
vswoolgatherer
  • UK
8.2

A person who daydreams and seems lost in thought

focuses on general aimless daydreaming rather than longing for someone or something

Antonyms

doer
40 3.5

A person who takes action to finish tasks

realist
30 4.4

A person who sees facts clearly and deals with them practically

How Distracted

woolgatherer
  • Archaic
9.9
daydreamer
1 3.3

Surface Forms

woolgatherer singular
woolgatherers plural

Morphology

woolgatherer = wool + gatherer (opaque) = wool + gather + er

Although built from 'wool' + 'gatherer' literally, the modern figurative sense 'daydreamer' is a semantic shift not predictable from the components.

Etymology

Woolgatherer comes from the image of a person who walks in fields and picks up loose wool, a 'wool' gatherer, just like the simple verb gather meaning 'to collect'. So today a woolgatherer is someone who 'collects' stray thoughts and lets their mind wander, often missing what is happening.