felt

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A fabric of matted, compressed animal fibers, such as wool or fur, sometimes mixed with vegetable or synthetic fibers.
2. n. A material resembling this fabric.
3. n. Something made of this fabric.
4. adj. Made of, relating to, or resembling felt.
5. v. To make into felt.
6. v. To cover with felt.
7. v. To press or mat (something) together.
8. v. To become like felt; mat together.
9. v. Past tense and past participle of feel.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An unwoven fabric of short hair or wool, or of wool and fur, agglutinated or matted together, with the aid usually of moisture and heat, by rolling, beating, and pressure. The property of felting results chiefly from the serrated or jagged structure of wool and most hairs, as well as from the crimped or wavy form natural to some animal fibers. The making of felt is thought to have originated at a very early date in the western part of Asia, and the best and most durable felt is still made in Persia and the neighboring countries. Felt floor-mats an inch or more thick and of admirable texture and printed in rich designs in color are used upon marble and tiled floors in Persia. (See numud.) In Europe, throughout the middle ages and later, felt was a usual material for hats, and was also used for stuffing or bombasting garments for both defense and fashion. Felt is now in general use not only for hats, but for clothing and upholstery, carpets, table-covers, and mats, jackets for steam-boilers, etc., and lining for roofs and walls. Broadcloth and other fulled woolen fabrics are partially felted by the process of fulling; and the familiar shrinkage of woolen garments in washing results from an unsought felting, which draws the fibers of the fabric closer together.
2. n. A piece of this material; some article of wearing-apparel made of it; specifically, a hat made of felted wool.
3. n. A thick matted growth of weeds, spreading by their roots.
4. n. Fell; skin.
5. n. A fabric made of hair, or asbestos and hair, sometimes saturated with a lime cement, used on steam-pipes and -boilers as a non-conducting covering.
6. n. A compound of liquid cement and animal or vegetable fiber, applied with a brush for the same purpose.
7. To mat (fibers) together, as in the manufacture of felt; make into felt or something resembling felt.
8. To cover with felt, as the cylinder of a steamengine.
9. To become felted; mat together.
10. Preterit and past participle of feel.

Wiktionary

1. n. A cloth or stuff made of matted fibres of wool, or wool and fur, fulled or wrought into a compact substance by rolling and pressure, with lees or size, without spinning or weaving.
2. n. A hat made of felt.
3. n. A skin or hide; a fell; a pelt.
4. v. To make into felt, or a feltlike substance; to cause to adhere and mat together. — Sir Matthew Hale
5. v. To cover with, or as with, felt; as, to felt the cylinder of a steam engine.
6. v. simple past tense and past participle of feel.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. imp. & p. p. or a. from feel.
2. n. A cloth or stuff made of matted fibers of wool, or wool and fur, fulled or wrought into a compact substance by rolling and pressure, with lees or size, without spinning or weaving.
3. n. A hat made of felt.
4. n. A skin or hide; a fell; a pelt.
5. v. To make into felt, or a feltike substance; to cause to adhere and mat together.
6. v. To cover with, or as with, felt.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. mat together and make felt-like
2. v. change texture so as to become matted and felt-like
3. v. cover with felt
4. n. a fabric made of compressed matted animal fibers