ˈwash-mill
[f. wash v.]
† 1. ? A mill-race in which sheep are washed. Obs.
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 317 Being..to wash our sheep on the morrow, I asked my shepherd, what time in the morning he would drive them to the wash-mills. |
2. Brick-making, etc. A machine for washing clay or materials for cement.
| 1856 Builder 16 Aug. 443/3 The principal machines which have been worked for this purpose [brick-making] are three—1st. The pug-mill. 2nd. The wash-mill. 3rd. The rolling-mill. 1879 Spons' Dict. Engin. Suppl. i. 332 These [sc. limestone and clay] are mixed in what are known as wash mills. |
3. Leather Manuf. A machine for washing skins after unhairing by the application of lime.
| 1897 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather (ed. 2) 377 From the unhairing room the skins pass to the ‘wash-mill’, where they receive a thorough washing, removing all adhering lime. |