also (Sc.) bittle. [f. BEETLE sb.1] trans. To beat with a beetle, in order to thresh, crush or flatten; also, techn., to emboss fabrics by pressure from figured rollers.
1608. in N. Riding Qr. Sessions Rec. (1884), I. 136. Betling, beaming and stretchinge three webbes of lynnen cloth &c.
1706. Mary Leadbeater, in Leadb. Papers, I. 52. The bleach green for the clothes, the large stone to beetle them on.
1745. trans. Columella’s Husb., XII. xix. Raw Spanish broom, that is, which has not been beetled.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxiv. Bleached on the bonny white gowans, and bittled by Nelly and hersell.
1863. Smiles, Industr. Biog., 270. Patents for … weaving, beetling, and mangling fabrics of various sorts.
