Forms; 6 flaxan, 6, 8 flaxon, 7 flexen, -on, 6– flaxen. [f. FLAX sb. + -EN4.]
A. adj.
1. Consisting or made of flax.
1521. Bury Wills (1850), 119. Item a flaxan shet.
1597. 1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass., II. i. 700. I will see him as well as I can brought to his grave honestlie; he shall have a faire coverlet over him, and lie in a good flaxon sheete, and youe and the reste of my good neighbours shall have breade and cheese enoughe.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XIX. i. 3. The toile made of Cumes Flaxen cords, are so strong, that the wild Bore falling into it, will bee caught: and no marvaile, for these kind of nets will checke the very edge of a sword or such like weapon.
1660. Blount, Boscobel, 41. His Majesty condescended unto, and presently put off his course shirt and put on a flexen one.
1739. Sharp, Surgery, Introd., p. lv. The best Materials for making Ligatures are the flaxen Thread that Shoemakers use; which is sufficiently strong when four, six, or eight of the Threads are twisted together and waxed.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 405. A patent for spinning a flaxen thread by means of machinery.
1876. Rock, Text. Fabr., i. 6. Old samples of byssus or mummy-bandages from Egypt in every instance were ascertained to be of fine unmixed flaxen linen.
2. † a. ? Of the colour of the flax-flower; azure.
1603. Tryall Chev., II. iii., in Bullen, O. Pl. (1884), III. 315.
| Like Eagles they shall cut the flaxen ayre | |
| And in an instant bring me where he is. |
b. Of the colour of dressed flax: chiefly in reference to the hair, † Flaxen wheat (see quots.).
1523. Fitzherbert, The Boke of Husbandry, § 34. Flaxen wheate hath a yelowe eare, and bare without anis, and is the bryghtest wheate in the busshell, and wyll make the whytest breed, and it wyll weare the grounde sore, and is small strawe, and wyll growe very thycke, and is but small corne.
1602. Shaks., Ham., IV. v. 195.
| His beard was white as snow, | |
| All flaxen was his poll; | |
| He is gone, he is gone, | |
| And we cast away moan; | |
| God ha’ mercy on his soul! |
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 551. That kind of Wheat which amongst the English is called Flaxen-wheat, being as white or whiter than the finest Flax.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., III. ii. II. ii. (1624), 376. Leland commends Guithera king Arthur’s wife, for a faire flaxen haire.
1720. Gay, Poems (1745), I. 179.
| Nor is the flaxen wig with safety worn; | |
| High on the shoulder, in a basket born. |
1810. Sporting Mag., XXXVI. July, 182/1. He saw the horse; he was labouring under a great lassitude, had a white mouth and a flaxen tongue; he was dropsical all over; his lungs had grown to his side; the water between the skin and flesh made his eyes appear depressed.
1862. Miss Braddon, Lady Audley, i. He could no more resist the tender fascination of those soft and melting blue eyes; the graceful beauty of that slender throat and drooping head, with its wealth of showering flaxen curls; the low music of that gentle voice; the perfect harmony which pervaded every charm, and made all doubly charming in this woman; than he could resist his destiny.
3. Of or pertaining to flax as a commercial product.
1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4383/1. The Hempen and Flaxen Manufacture.
1757. Dyer, Fleece, III. 369.
| Our happy swains | |
| Behold arising, in their fatt’ning flocks, | |
| A double wealth; more rich than Belgium’s boast, | |
| Who tends the culture of the flaxen reed. |
1875. Ure’s Dict. Arts., II. 405. From all we can learn relative to the earliest annals of the flaxen trades of the United Kingdom, it would seem that the great object of those who took most interest in their progress was to secure ample supplies of raw material.
4. attrib. and Comb., as flaxen-haired, -headed, -wigged adjs.; flaxen-egg (dial.), ‘an abortive egg’ (Halliwell).
1630. R. Johnson, Relations of the Most Famous Kingdoms, etc., 293. The people generally are reasonable faire of complexion and flaxen haired, but not well favoured, either men or women: in behaviour as civill as any part of Germanie whatsoever.
1863. I. Williams, Baptistery, I. vii. (1874), 84.
| Then there pass’d an Angel mild, | |
| Like a flaxen-hairèd child. |
† B. sb. Material made of flax; linen; a linen-cloth. Obs.
1520. Lanc. Wills, II. 8. A bordecloth of flaxen to be an alter cloth.
1599. Nottingham Rec., IV. 250. One diaper table cloathe; one of flaxen; one diaper towell; three pillowbeares.
1672. J. Lacy, Dumb Lady, II. Dram. Wks. (1875), 44. I’ll see you byried in the flaxen your grandam spun herself, and left your worship for a winding-sheet.
1696. J. F., Merchant’s Ware-ho., 16. Flaxens … made of the same Flax as the former.
