dial. Also 6 yellm, 8 yealm, 9 yalm, yolm. [f. prec.] trans. and intr. To separate and select straw and lay it in order for thatching: = HELM v.3 Hence Yelming vbl. sb., the action of the verb; also concr. = prec.
1581. Stanford Churchw. Acc., in Antiquary (1888), April, 172. For a yellmyng of straw xijd.
1589. in H. Hall, Soc. Eliz. Age (1886), 203. A woman ‘yelming’ 14 days, 1s. 9d.
1601. in Glasscock, Rec. St. Michael’s, Bp.’s Stortford (1882), 67. Pd for strawe, vs. Pd for yelmyng, xd. Pd to the thatcher and fixer, iiijs. ijd. Ibid. (1629), 71. Pd to Gryces wife for yelming strawe for her house, xviijd.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. xviii. 79. Thatching per square, yelming and serving included, 2s. 6d.
1850. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XI. II. 400. Cornes’s new chaff-cutter dispenses with the women yelming.
1879. Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 124. Two or three women are busy yelming, i.e. separating the straw, selecting the largest, and laying it level and parallel, damping it with water, and preparing it for the yokes.
1890. Glouc. Gloss., Yolm or Yalm … (Stow-on-Wold).
Hence Yelmer, one who lays out yelms.
1808. Batchelor, Agric. Bedford, 109. These [two men], together with the four yelmers and servers, cost about 20s. per day.
