[STAPLE sb.2] A market appointed for the sale of wool.
1593. Norden, Spec. Brit., M’sex (Camden), Introd. p. xvii. Ther are within this cytie the longe Woulstaple and the rounde, both which take name of the Staple that ther was kepte for woules.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 8 July 1656. The pinnacle of one of their wool-staple houses.
1778. Engl. Gazetteer (ed. 2), s.v. Sandwich, The wool-staple was removed hither from Queenborough, in the reign of Richard II.
So Wool-stapler [STAPLER 2], a merchant who buys wool from the producer, grades it, and sells it to the manufacturer. Also Wool-stapling.
1709. Lond. Gaz., No. 4529/3. Eden Hardy,… Bermondsey,… Woollstapler.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 160. The matted fleeces supplied by the wool-stapler.
1888. T. W. Reid, Life W. E. Forster, I. 137. The wool-stapling business of James Fison and Son of Thetford.
1897. ‘Ouida,’ Massarenes, xlviii. An Australian wool-stapler.
