Englishdyed in the wool
Meaning: Having a trait that is thoroughly ingrained or basic to one's nature.
Example: “My grandfather is a dyed-in-the-wool Red Sox fan.”
Origin: A real textile distinction: dyeing raw wool fiber before it's ever spun into yarn produces color that penetrates all the way through and resists fading, unlike dye applied afterward to finished cloth, which sits closer to the surface and wears off faster. Richard Hooker's 1597 Of the Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie carries the earliest documented figurative use, and 16th-century English writers extended the comparison to describe how thoroughly a belief or character trait instilled early in life — like color set into raw wool — tends to last a person's whole life, resistant to any later change.
More English idioms
- give someone a fair shake To give someone or something a chance to prove itself.
- fair to middling Average; neither good nor bad.
- fall by the wayside To drop out of the situation.
- fall for something To be deceived or believe an unlikely story.
- fall for someone To be in love with a person.
- fall off the wagon To lose control of oneself and engage in a compulsive behavior.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.
- The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. Believed by Guinness to be among the hardest in English — 'six/sick/sheikh/sheep' blur in…
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.
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