▪ I. fuller, n.1
(ˈfʊlə(r))
Forms: 1–4 fullere, 3 follare, 4 south. vollere, 4–6 fullar(e, (6 fullor, furler, 7 fullner), 4– fuller.
[OE. fullęre, ad. L. fullō (of unknown origin), assimilated to agent-nouns in -ęre, -er1. If there existed an OE. *fullian vb., ad. late L. fullāre to full, the agent-noun may have been derived from it.]
1. One whose occupation is to full cloth.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark ix. 3. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 366/53 Mid one follares perche; þat men tesieth opon cloth. a 1327 Pol. Songs (Camden) 188 The webbes ant the fullaris assembleden hem alle. 1340 Ayenb. 167 Mochel is defouled mid þe uet of uolleres þe robe of scarlet. 1511–2 [see full v.3 1]. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 24 Compounding with the Fuller to thicke it [wool] very much. 1645 Bp. Hall Remedy Discontents 118 The Fuller treads upon that cloth which he means to whiten. 1764 Burn Poor Laws 156 Three weavers..six spinners, one fuller and burler. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. iv. 103 There are twelve clergymen..six fullers and six girdlers. 1885 Instructions to Census Clerks 66 (In list of workers in textile fabrics). Fuller. |
2. In the names of various materials, plants, etc. used in the process of fulling; as
fuller's clay = fuller's earth;
fuller's grass,
herb,
weed, (
Saponaria officinalis);
fuller's teazel,
thistle (
Dipsacus fullonum);
fuller's thorn ?
= prec.| 1776 Adam Smith W.N. iv. viii. (1869) II. 238 *Fuller's earth or fuller's clay. 1876 Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. v. 101 Fuller's clay or earth. |
| 1526 Grete Herball ccclxxxiiij, Saponaria..is called..*fullers grasse. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 262 The *Fullers herb in wine honied. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 486 There is an herb called Fullers-herb which doth soften wool. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. lx. 522 This kinde of Thistel is called..*Fullers Teasel. |
| 1653 Culpeper Eng. Phys. 356 *Fullers Thistle, or Teasel. |
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §661 An Herbe called Hippophæston [that groweth] vpon the *Fullers Thorne. |
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Fullers-Weed, or Fullers-thistle, an Herb. |
▪ II. ˈfuller, n.2 [? f. full v.2 (sense 3) + -er1.] 1. Blacksmithing, etc. A grooved tool on which iron is shaped by being driven into the grooves.
| 1864 Webster, Fuller, a die, a half-round set-hammer. 1896 Farrier's Price List, Best Cast Steel, for Fullers, Stamps, &c. |
2. A groove made by a fuller.
| 1855 Miles Horse-shoeing 9 The ‘fuller’ should be carried quite round the shoe to the heels, and the fullering iron should have both sides alike. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Fuller, the fluting groove of a bayonet. 1889 Daily Tel. 1 Mar. 5/8 The present pattern is too thin in the ‘fuller’. |
Hence
ˈfuller v., to stamp with a fuller; to groove by stamping; also
dial. to goffer (linen).
ˈfullered ppl. a. ˈfullering vbl. n., the action of the
vb.; also
concr. the groove thus formed.
| 1820 Bracy Clark Descr. New Horse Shoe 14 Our old English custom of fullering. 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 170 The shoes being fullered or grooved near the outer edge to receive the heads. 1841 Hartshorne Salopia Antiq. Gloss. 434 Fullaring, a groove into which the nails of a horse's shoe are inserted. 1855 Fullering iron [see sense 2 above]. 1868 Regul. & Ord. Army ¶573 The horse's Shoe is not to be grooved or fullered. 1880 Blackmore Mary Anerley I. xi. 159 His linen clothes are dry, and even quite lately fullered—ironed you might call it. Mod. Advt., Sandal horse shoe..made of plain, fuller'd, or Rodway bar. |