Woolgathering, from Merriam-Webster’s Word-of-the-Day on March 7, 2018

noun

My woolgathering in the backseat was abruptly interrupted by a question from the taxi driver.

“I love the feeling of being on a train, the rumble and roar that seem to aid woolgathering, and I never tire of staring out the window, no matter the scenery.” – Karl Zimmermann, The Los Angeles Times, 3 Sept. 2017

Woolgathering once literally referred to the act of gathering loose tufts of wool that had gotten caught on bushes and fences as sheep passed by. As you might imagine, woolgathering was not the most profitable of enterprises; its practitioners must have seemed to wander aimlessly, gaining little for their efforts. In the mid-16th century, woolgathering began to appear in figurative phrases such as “my wits went a woolgathering”-in other words, “my mind went wandering aimlessly.” From there, it wasn’t long before the word woolgatheringcame to suggest foolish or purposeless mind-wandering.