Flax sb.

Forms: 1 flæx, fleax, 1–5 flex, 4 south. vlexe. 4–6 flexe, 5–7 flaxe, 7 flacks), 4– flax. [Com. W.Ger.: OF. fleax = OFris. flax, OS. *flahs (MDu., Du., LG. vlas), OHG. flahs (MHG. vlahs, mod.G. flachs):—OTeut. *flahso^m str. neut.; commonly referred to the OTeut. root *fleh-, flah- to plait:—OAryan *plek-, plok-, cf. Ger. flech-ten, L. plec-tere, Gr. πλέκ-ειν. Some think however that the root is flah- (:—OAryan *plak-) as in FLAY v., the etymological notion being connected with the process of ‘stripping,’ by which the fiber is prepared.]

  I.  The plant.

  1.  The plant Linum usitatissimum bearing blue flowers which are succeeded by pods containing the seeds commonly known as linseed. It is cultivated for its textile fiber and for its seeds.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Exod. ix. 31. Witodlice eall hira flex and hira bernas wæron fordone.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xcvii. (Tollem. MS.). Flexe groweþ in euen stalkes, and bereþ ȝelow floures or blewe.

1484.  Caxton, Fables of Æsop, I. xx. Whanne the flaxe was growen and pulled vp.

1562.  Turner, Herbal, II. 39 b. Flax … is called of the Northen men lynt.

1677.  Yarranton, Engl. Improv., 47. The Land there for Flax is very good, being rich and dry, wherein Flax doth abundantly delight.

1794.  Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xvii. 241. Flax has also a corolla of six petals; but the calyx is five-leaved, and the capsule opens by five valves, having ten cells within, in each of which is one seed.

1869.  H. Macmillan, Bible Teach., iii. (1870), 49. We see the flax extracting from the earth the materials of those fibres which are to be woven into garments for us.

  2.  With qualifying word prefixed, in the names of other species of Linum or of plants resembling the true flax, as dwarf-, fairy-, mountain-, purging, spurge-, toad-, wild flax: see quots., and the different words.

a. 1387.  Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.), 28. Linaria, wilde flax.

1670.  Ray, Catal. Plant., 196. Linum arvense … Common wild Flax.

1863.  Prior, Plant-n., 81. Dwarf-, or Purging-, or Fairy-Flax, Linum catharticum.

1878–86.  Britten & Holland, Plant-n., 187. Mountain Flax, (1) Linum catharticum … (2) Erythræa Centaurium. Ibid. Wild Flax, (1) Linaria vulgaris. (2) Cuscuta Epilinum.

  b.  New Zealand Flax, Phormium tenax (also called flax-bush, -lily, -plant), a native of New Zealand, the leaves of which yield a textile fiber.

1846.  Lindley, The Vegetable Kingdom, iv. 203. In New Zealand they [Lilyworts] are represented by the Phormium or Flax-bush.

1854.  Golder, Pigeons’ Parl., Introd. 5. I had on that account to pass a night, murky and damp as it happened to be, under the shade of a flax-bush, yet I felt not a little compensated by the different views of scenery there abounding, yielding indeed a pleasing sensation to the mind.

1870.  Braim, New Homes, viii. 375. The native flax (phormium tenax) is found in all parts of New Zealand; it grows to the height of about nine feet.

  II.  The fiber of flax.

  3.  The fibers of the plant whether dressed or undressed.

c. 1325.  Gloss W. de Biblesw., in Wright, Voc., 156. E autre foyze le lyn eslysez (pik thi flax).

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 676.

c. 1483.  Caxton, Vocab., 18.

1530.  Palsgr., 221/1. Flaxe redy to spynne, fillace.

1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., I. iii. 108. To. Excellent, it [haire] hangs like flax on a distaffe: & I hope to see a huswife take thee between her legs, & spin it off.

1666.  Pepys, Diary (1879), VI. 34. In the town did see an old man beating of flax, and did step into the barn and give him money, and saw that piece of husbandry which I never saw, and it is very pretty.

1767.  Warburton, Serm., 1 Cor. xiii. 13. They were never so stupid as not to understand that human laws, like a thread of flax before a flame, vanish and disappear before popular commotions.

1825.  J. Neal, Brother Jonathan, III. 323. You crushed our conspiracy; confounded our hopes; broke away from us, like the Philistine—a—a—from the untwisted flax.

  fig.  1533.  More, Debell. Salem, v. Wks. 940/2. He spinneth that fyne lye with flex, fetchinge it out of his owne body as the spider spynneth her cobwebbe.

  b.  pl. Different sorts or qualities of flax.

1886.  Daily News, 6 Sept., 2/4. There is a brisk inquiry for tows, hemps, and flaxes.

  † 4.  As a material of which a candle or lamp wick is made; the wick itself. Obs.

c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., Matt. xii. 20. Flæx vel lin smikende ne adwæscet.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 189. Preestis of þe chirche, þat smokiden bi pride as brent flex.

1529.  More, A Dialoge of Comfort against Tribulacion, II. Wks. 1200/1. It is a thing right hard to touche pytche & neuer fyle the fingers, to put flex vnto fyer, and yet kepe if from burning.

1560.  Bible (Genev.), Isa. xiii. 3. The smoking flax shall he not quench.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., V. ii. 55.

1632.  Massinger & Field, Fatal Dowry, IV. i. He has made me smell for all the world like a flax or a red-headed woman’s chamber.

  5.  A material resembling the fibers of the flax-plant or used for a like purpose.

1553.  Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 19. The flaxe whiche is lefte, they spinne agayne, and make therof smal roopes or cordes.

1624.  Capt. Smith, Virginia, VI. 216. A kinde or two of Flax, wherewith they make Nets, Lines, and Ropes, both small and great, very strong for their quantities.

  b.  in the name of a variety of asbestos with flaxlike fibers, as EARTH-, FOSSIL-, MOUNTAIN-FLAX, q.v. For Incombustible flax, see ASBESTOS 2.

1860.  Whittier, The Double-Headed Snake of Newbury, 39.

  6.  Cloth made of flax; linen.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., xiv. 87. Of ðære eorðan cymeð ðæt fleax, ðæt bið hwites hiwes.

1340.  Ayenb., 236. Chastete þet is be-tokned be þe huite ulexe.

1573.  Baret, Alv., F 643. That beareth or weareth flaxe or linnen.

1851.  Mrs. R. Wilson, New Zealand, etc., 23.

1872.  A. Domett, Ranolf, V. iii. 92.

  III.  attrib. and Comb.

  7.  a. simple attrib. General relations (with or without hyphen), as flax-blade, † -bolle (see BOLL sb.¹), fibre, leaf, plant, stalk, stem, straw, † top.

1872.  A. Domett, Ranolf, I. v. 11.

c. 1325.  Gloss W. de Biblesw., in Wright, Voc., 156, note. Boceaus, … *flaxbolles [printed filaxlolles.]

1875.  Ure’s Dict. Arts, 409. Attempts have been made to prepare *flax fibre without steeping.

1884.  Bracken, Lays of Maori, 68–9.

1838.  Penny Cycl., X. 305/1. The *flax plants are passed between these cylinders.

1875.  Ure’s Dict. Arts, II. 409. The immersion of the *flax stems in water, either as pulled full of sap, or after drying, appears, as yet, to be the best mode of effecting the decomposition of the gum, and obtaining the fibre pure, or nearly so. Ibid. (1860), II. 228. The sheaves of *flax-straw are placed erect in crates.

1382.  Wyclif, Ecclus. xxi. 10. A *flax top gedered togldere [Vulg. stuppa collecta] the synagoge of synneres.

  b.  Concerned with flax as a commercial product, as flax culture, -factory, -industry, -man, -merchant, -mill, -shop, -spindle, -tithe.

1875.  Ure’s Dict. Arts, II. 455. Lands were only partially prepared for *flax culture.

1509.  in Mkt. Harborough Records (1890) 232. Ric’ Beale *Flaxman.

1799.  A. Young, Agric. Linc., 197. Others let it to flaxmen at £3. or £4. per acre; but they think that flax draws the land more than woad.

1807.  Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 207. The flaxman only finding seed, and agreeing to have the field cleared by a given time, which is usually fixed for the end of October.

1835.  Ure, Philos. Manuf., 221. The proprietors of many *flax-mills have not taken sufficient care to box off the dangerous parts of their machinery.

1600.  Sir John Oldcastle, I. iii. You talke of your religion so long, that you haue banished charitie from amongst you; a man may make a *flax shop in your kitchin chimnies, for any fire there is stirring.

1679.  Bedloe, Narrative and impartial discovery of the horrid Popish Plot, 27. A Gentle-woman that kept a Flax-shop in the Minories.

1875.  Ure’s Dict. Arts, II. 456. The first effective introduction of the steam-driven *flax-spindle.

1692.  Rokeby, Diary, 18. Wheth^r *Flax-tyth were small tythes or not, being sown upon 26 acres of land formerly arrable, y^e whole parish being 1500 acres.

  c.  Made of flax, as flax canvas, -sandal, -thread.

1872.  A. Domett, Ranolf, XXI. ii. 378.

1882.  Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, Flax Canvas.—The description of canvas may be procured in various degrees of fineness and make, one of them being of very fine thread.

1891.  Daily News, 8 Dec., 5/8. Flax-thread and spun stuffs.

  d.  objective, as flax-dresser, -hackler, -spinner, † -swingler; flax-cutting, -dressing, -growing, -spinning vbl. sbs.

1632.  Sherwood, A *flax-dresser, liniere.

1894.  H. Speight, Nidderdale, 304. In the year 1824 there were as many as 800 flax-dressers, ‘hecklers,’ or hand-combers as they are called.

1780.  A. Young, Tour Irel., I. 164. They next send it to a *flax-hackler, which is a sort of combing it, and separates into two or three sorts; here generally two, tow and flax.

1856.  Farmer’s Mag., X. Nov., 379/1. The severe trial the *flaxspinners experienced, whereby many of long standing failed.

1838.  Penny Cycl., X. 305/2. *Flax-spinning is now carried on with most success in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

1663.  Canterbury Marriage Licences (MS.). Charles Abbot … *flaxswingler.

  8.  Special comb.: flax-bird, (a) the North American goldfinch, Chrysomitris tristis; (b) U.S. ‘a book-name of the scarlet tanager, Piranga rubra’ (Cent. Dict.); (c) dial. the common Whitethroat, Curruca cinerea; † flax-box, a box to hold the flax or tow match for firing a caliver or match-lock; flax-brake (see quot.); flax-breaker = prec.; flax-comb, an instrument for cleansing and straightening flax fibers, a flax-hackle; flax-cotton, cottonized flax; † flax-finch ? some species of finch; flax-hackle (see quot.); † flax-hoppe, a head or seed-pod of flax; flax-hurd, the coarse parts of flax, tow; flax-ripple (see quot.); flax-scutcher (see SCUTCHER); so flax-scutching vbl. sb.; flax-thrasher, a machine for beating out the seeds from the bolls of the flax-plant; flax-wench, -wife, -woman, a female flax-worker.

1822.  Latham, Hist. Birds, VI. 120. American Yellow Finch … feeds on the seeds of flax, alder, &c. and is called in the back parts of Carolina, the *Flax Bird.

1576.  Lanc. Lieutenancy, I. 77. Fyve coarslettes, six calliuers, fyve *flaxe boxes, and two mouldes.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. iii. 48. A Brake, or *Flax Brake: is two pieces of Timber with Teeth made in them to bruse Flax stalks.

1889.  Elvin, Dict. Heraldry, *Flax-breaker.

1611.  Cotgr., Brosse … a *flax-combe, or hatchell.

1755.  Johnson, Flax-comb, the instrument with which the fibres of flax are cleansed from the brittle parts.

1851.  Lowell, Lett. (1894), I. 192. The *flax-cotton is a great thing.

1639.  Horn & Rob., Gate Lang. Unl., xiv. § 153. The goldfinch, larke, nightingale, linnet, chaffing, wiewall, owzell or blackbird, and *flaxfinch, are singing [shrill] birds.

1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 402. The *flax-hackle is an instrument or tool constructed for the purpose of hackling or straightening the fibres of the flax.

14[?].  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 584/3. Folliculus, a *flexhoppe.

1614.  Markham, Cheap Husb., II. iv. 93. Lay on a hot Plaister of Oyl, Turpentine, Wax, and a little Rozen melted together with *Flax-hurds.

1673.  Phil. Trans., VIII. 6067. Lap the joynted place about with a little hemp or flax-hurds.

1880.  Antrim & Down Gloss., *Flax-ripple, a comb with large iron teeth through which flax is drawn, to remove the bolls or seeds.

1846.  J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), I. 277. The first *flax-scutching mill.

1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 277.

1591.  Greene, Disc. Coosnage (near end). How a *Flaxe wife and her neighbours vsed a coosning Collier.

1611.  Cotgr., Filandiere, a *Flaxe-woman.

  b.  In the names of plants, as flax-bush, -lily (see sense 2 b); flax-dodder, Cuscuta Epilinum; flax-tail, a dialect name of the reed-mace, Typha latifolia; flax-weed, Linaria vulgaris, toad-flax; flax-worts, the name given by Lindley to the order Linaceæ.

1852.  J. M. Wilson, Farmer’s Dict. Agric., I. 554. *Flax-dodder,—botanically Cuscuta Epilinum. A mischievous, parasitical, convolvulaceous plant, of similar form and habits to the European and the lesser dodders, but especially infesting the flax crop.

1861.  Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., V. 313. The Reed-mace is in Kent often called *Flax-tail.

1597.  Gerard, Herball, 445. Tode flaxe is called of the herbaristes of our time, Linaria, or *Flaxweede.

1846.  Lindley, The Vegetable Kingdom, vii. 485. Linaceæ.—*Flaxworts.