English Explanatory Dictionary

more cry than wool

English dictionary entry

Meanings

phrase
  1. Dramatic assertions that are backed by little evidence.

Pronunciation

En-au-more cry than wool.ogg

Word forms

more cry than wool all cry and no wool

Etymology

Derived from the practice of shearing sheep, in which the sheep may "cry" as their wool is removed. The earliest recorded variation appears to be by 15th century English lawyer John Fortescue, who wrote "Moche Crye and no Wull" in De laudibus legum Angliae (c. 1470), ch. x.

Related words

all bark and no bite all smoke and no fire all hat and no cattle
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