Old girl in a woolly-headed state (5)
I believe the answer is:
woman
'old girl' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'a woolly-headed state' is the wordplay.
'a woolly-headed' becomes 'w' (this could be a standard abbreviation which I don't know about).
'state' becomes 'oman' (Oman is an example).
'w'+'oman'='WOMAN'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for woman that I've seen before include "See 16" , "Mature female" , "With 1a [OLD], one's rather timid" , "Lady" , "Adult female" .)