Definition

1. Noun:

   • A non-woven fabric: A dense, matted textile material produced by compressing and matting together fibers, traditionally wool or other animal fibers, using heat, moisture, and pressure.

2. Verb (transitive and intransitive):

   • To mat or become matted: To cause fibers to tangle and condense into a dense, compact mass, or for this process to occur naturally.
   • To cover with felt: To apply a layer of felt material to an object.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • She bought a sheet of red felt for her craft project.
  • The traditional yurt is covered with thick felt for insulation.

• Verb:

  • The wool fibers felted together after being agitated in hot water. (Intransitive)
  • She felted the wool to make a sturdy bag. (Transitive)
  • The artisan felted a cap from raw sheep's wool.

Advanced Usage

• "Felt up" (phrasal verb): To become matted or condensed into felt, often unintentionally.
  • My favorite sweater felted up in the wash and no longer fits.

Variants and Related Words

• Felting (n): The process of making felt.
  • Wet felting is a common technique.
• Felt-tip pen (n): A pen with a tip made of felt or a similar porous material. (Note: This is a compound noun where "felt" describes the tip's material).
• Unfelted (adj): Not matted into felt; remaining as loose fibers.

Synonyms

• Noun: Mat, fabric, cloth, textile.
• Verb: Mat, condense, tangle, compress.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Felt together: To join or mat fibers into a single piece of felt.
  • The different colored wools felted together beautifully.

Notes on Different Meanings

• The word "felt" is also the simple past tense and past participle of the verb "to feel" (e.g., ). This is a separate, homographic verb with a completely different meaning related to perception or emotion. The definitions above pertain only to the noun and verb related to the fabric.

Noun

1. a fabric made of compressed matted animal fibers

Verb

1. change texture so as to become matted and felt-like
   • The fabric felted up after several washes
2. cover with felt
   • felt a cap
3. mat together and make felt-like
   • felt the wool