Note 1 - Nature of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Details Textual) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 02, 2017	Dec. 03, 2016	Nov. 28, 2015
Number of Countries in which Entity Operates	37
Number of Operating Segments	6
Rebates	$ 18,158	$ 16,465	$ 13,951
Percentage of LIFO Inventory	25.70%
Cash Surrender Value of Life Insurance	$ 5,062	5,120
Cost-method Investments, Other than Temporary Impairment	0	0	0
Cost Method Investments	1,669	1,666
Interest Costs Capitalized	$ 306	$ 752	$ 136
Finite-Lived Intangible Asset, Useful Life	17 years	15 years
Cumulative Transalation Adjustment Due to Change in Functional Currency	$ 11,317
Asset Retirement Obligations, Noncurrent	$ 2,129	$ 2,264
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share, Amount	163,140	657,439	887,672
Shares Paid for Tax Withholding for Share Based Compensation	56,230	67,807	54,454
Equity Securities [Member] \| UNITED STATES
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Target Allocation, Percentage	60.00%
Fixed Income Funds [Member] \| UNITED STATES
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Target Allocation, Percentage	40.00%
Minimum [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Asset, Useful Life	3 years
Maximum [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Asset, Useful Life	20 years
Building and Building Improvements [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life	20 years
Building and Building Improvements [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life	40 years
Machinery and Equipment [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life	3 years
Machinery and Equipment [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life	20 years
Sekisui Fuller Company Ltd [Member]
Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage	50.00%
Sales Revenue, Goods, Net [Member] \| Americas Adhesives [Member]
Concentration Risk, Percentage	39.00%
Sales Revenue, Goods, Net [Member] \| EIMEA [Member]
Concentration Risk, Percentage	24.00%
Sales Revenue, Goods, Net [Member] \| Asia Pacific [Member]
Concentration Risk, Percentage	11.00%
Sales Revenue, Goods, Net [Member] \| Construction Products [Member]
Concentration Risk, Percentage	10.00%
Sales Revenue, Goods, Net [Member] \| Engineering Adhesives [Member]
Concentration Risk, Percentage	13.00%
Sales Revenue, Goods, Net [Member] \| Royal Adhesives [Member]
Concentration Risk, Percentage	3.00%

The amount of cumulative translation adjustment due to a change in functional currency.

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Rebates offered on sales.

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Securities (including those issuable pursuant to contingent stock agreements) that could potentially dilute basic earnings per share (EPS) or earnings per unit (EPU) in the future that were not included in the computation of diluted EPS or EPU because to do so would increase EPS or EPU amounts or decrease loss per share or unit amounts for the period presented.

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Noncurrent portion of the carrying amount of a liability for an asset retirement obligation. An asset retirement obligation is a legal obligation associated with the disposal or retirement of a tangible long-lived asset that results from the acquisition, construction or development, or the normal operations of a long-lived asset, except for certain obligations of lessees.

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Carrying amount as of the balance sheet date of amounts which could be received based on the terms of the insurance contract upon surrendering life policies owned by the entity.

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For an entity that discloses a concentration risk in relation to quantitative amount, which serves as the "benchmark" (or denominator) in the equation, this concept represents the concentration percentage derived from the division.

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Amount, after adjustment, of cost-method investment. Adjustments include, but are not limited to, dividends received in excess of earnings after date of investment that are considered a return of investment and other than temporary impairments.

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This item represents an other than temporary decline in value that has been recognized against an investment accounted for under the cost method of accounting. The excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of the investment represents the amount of the write down which is or was reflected in earnings. The written down value is a new cost basis with the adjusted value of the investment becoming its new carrying value. Evidence of a loss in value might include, but would not necessarily be limited to, absence of an ability to recover the carrying amount of the investment or inability of the investee to sustain an earnings capacity which would justify the carrying amount of the investment.

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Percentage of target investment allocation to total plan assets. Includes, but is not limited to, percentage on weighted-average basis if more than one plan.

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The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

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Useful life of finite-lived intangible assets, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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Amount of interest capitalized during the period.

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The number of countries in which the entity operates as of balance sheet date.

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Number of operating segments. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise: (a) that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same enterprise), (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (c) for which discrete financial information is available. An operating segment may engage in business activities for which it has yet to earn revenues, for example, start-up operations may be operating segments before earning revenues.

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The percentage of LIFO (last in first out) inventory to total inventory as of the balance sheet date if other than 100 percent.

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Useful life of long lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Examples include, but not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment.

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For net-share settlement of share-based awards when the employer settles employees' income tax withholding obligations, this element represents the number of shares the employees use to repay the employer.

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