Forms: 4 bon(e, 5–6 bunne, 9 boon: see also BUN. [Of unknown etymology: see BUN.] The stalk of flax or hemp after the fiber has been removed; the stalks of Cow-parsnip and other umbelliferous plants.
1388. Wyclif, Isa. i. 31. Ȝoure strengthe schal be as a deed sparcle of bonys [v.r. stobil], ether of herdis of flex.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 277. Kyx, or bunne, or drye weed.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housew. (1649), 182. All the loose buns and shivers that hang in the hemp or flaxe.
1838. Penny Cycl., X. 305. The flax plants are passed between these cylinders … and the stalk, or boon, as it is technically called, is by this means completely broken without injuring the fibres.
