transitive. To stiffen (cloth, clothes, etc.) with starch. Also intransitive.

transitive. To remove grease or dirt from (cloth, wool, silk, etc.) by some detergent process.

transitive. To dress (cloth), esp. by removing knots and lumps; ‘to dress cloth as fullers do’ (Johnson).

transitive. To produce a wavy lustrous finish on (a fabric, esp. silk) by sprinkling it with water and pressing it. Cf. watered, adj.1 5. Now chiefly…

transitive. To pass through a calender; to press (cloth, paper, etc.) between rollers, for the purpose of smoothing, glazing, etc.

transitive. To variegate by admixture of different coloured threads in the woof. Hence, in wider sense, to variegate (an expanse of colour) by…

To apply pressure to (something). transitive. To smooth or flatten (fabric or clothes) with an iron or clothes press; to iron.

To stiffen with gum; to coat or smear with or as with gum.

transitive. To pack up again into bales.

To stamp with a stroke. To stamp (velvet, etc.).

transitive. In dressmaking, needlework, etc. †(a) To use biasing (biasing, n. 3) to strengthen or secure (gathers, pleats, etc.) (obsolete). (b) To…

transitive. Chiefly Textiles. To impregnate (a fabric) with a liquid or paste by pressing between rollers, the substance applied being either on…

Usually in passive. transitive. To treat (textiles) with a solution of sulphuric acid (cf. spirit of sulphur n. at sulphur, n. adj.phrases f). Obs…

Technical uses. To pound and scour (woollen cloth).

Dyeing. To wash (silk fabric) in running water, before putting in the dye.

To fold (cloth) which has just been woven.

Drapery. To make into a block (block, n. 6f).

transitive to finish (fabric) by this method; also intransitive.

transitive. To treat (cotton yarn or fabric) by the process of mercerization.