rough-dressv.
/ˈrʌfˌdrɛs/, U.S. /ˈrəfˌdrɛs/ 1. transitive. To beat and scrape (flax or hemp) in order to remove the coarser particles. Cf. swingle v.1 1. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > treating or processing textile materials > treating or processing flax, hemp, or jute > treat or process flax, hemp, or jute [verb (transitive)] > beat
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1622 in R. Sanderson Rymer's Fœdera (1717) XVII. 414/2 Our Eastland Marchants in former tymes did lade their Shipps with Hempe and Flax rough dressed in great Quantities.
1788 European Mag. & London Rev. Dec. 427/2 To Swingle: to rough dress flax.
1864 Amer. Agriculturist Nov. 313/2 A set of three machines of twelve rollers each for the treatment of unrotted and tangled straw. Two of these machines rough-dress the straw and much reduce it in bulk.
1997 M. Cohen Warp of Ulster's Past x. 258 The flax was initially rough dressed by another group of male employees.
2. transitive. To remove rough projections from (stone). Cf. scabble v. 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or constructing with stone > build or construct with stone [verb (transitive)] > dress stone
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1807 Scots Mag. June 405/2 The stones are all to be rough dressed at their respective quarries, and landed at Arbroath.
1869 Architect 23 Jan. 59/1 Some time since the masters got the stones rough-dressed by machinery, and that displeased the men.
1919 W. H. Holmes Handbk. Aboriginal Amer. Antiq. xxvii. 277 I found some disks of hard stone in this quarry, with holes through their center, as if for the reception of handles, which may have been used in rough-dressing or hammering the stones into shape.
1955 Manch. Guardian 18 Apr. 3/5 The stone is rough dressed with a ‘skebbling hammer’..and then dressed properly.
2000 A. Thorpe Shifts (2001) 69 He'd get a spalling hammer and a lump of limestone..and it'd be rough-dressed in, well, about as long as it takes to say ‘it rains in Sydney’, slowly.
Derivatives
ˈrough-dressed adj.
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1746 Dublin Jrnl. 21–24 June In order to receive, view and value all such rough dressed Flax as shall be brought to be lodged there.
1898 E. R. Buckley Building & Ornamental Stones Wisconsin ii. 14 A rough dressed stone furnishes a million places for dust and dirt to lodge, while a smooth dressed stone is free from such lodgment places.
1952 T. Armstrong Adam Brunskill v. 154 Flooring, lining and capping the long-extending cut with a barrel-arch, all in rough-dressed but workmanlike-shaped stones.
2004 G. Niosi & T. Patterson Nanaimo 26/2 It features rough-dressed ashlar masonry and prominent arched openings typical of this style.
ˈrough-dressing n.
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?1797 T. Shaw Let. to Alexander Mather 11 Nor hath the power of the great rough dressing hammer left your scientific genius without the remembrance of its necessary utility.
1886 J. Hall Rep. Building Stones 28 Limestones of this character are much better adapted to rough dressing, when the blows are directed away from the surface instead of against it.
1937 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 10 Apr. 768/1 Students are taught every process from the rough dressing of the flax to the weaving of beautiful damasks.
2008 M. Cottier et al. Customs Law Asia Minor 17 The rough-dressing of the reverse side indicates that the stone was not intended to be seen set up as a free-standing stele.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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