v. Also corruptly -rot: see ROT v. 4 c. trans. To ret (flax or hemp) by steeping in water: opposed to DEW-RET v.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), VIII. 404/2. Such hemp as is designed for seed is seldom water-retted.
1797. A. Young, Agric. Suffolk, 121. In a circle of about six miles round Tilnetham, the greater part [of the hemp] is never put into the water at all but is dew-retted…. The hemp at market is not worth so much … as that which hath been water-retted.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 489. The diminished value of flax which is much water-retted.
Hence Water-retting vbl. sb. (corruptly -rotting: see ROTTING vbl. sb. 2).
1794. Vancouver, Agric. Cambridge, 218. The practice of water-rotting is generally prefer’d to that of dew-rotting.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, s.v. Retting-pit, In the fens there are two different modes of retting, dew-retting … and water-retting, which is laying it in a pond or ditch, covered with turf.
1889. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), IX. 294/2.
