a. rare. [f. TETHER sb. + -Y.] Apt to become tangled or ravelled: said of long-stapled wool, the fibers of which cling together.
1894. C. Vickerman, Woollen Spinning, IX. 167. It is very obvious … that a long tethery wool would be extremely difficult to divide from the lap, either by the Bolette or Martin machine.
