▪ I. flaxen, a. and n.
(ˈflæksən, ˈflæks(ə)n)
Forms: 6 flaxan, 6, 8 flaxon, 7 flexen, -on, 6– flaxen.
[f. flax n. + -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 He shall..lie in a good flaxon sheete. 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. 1660 Blount Boscobel 41 His Majesty..put off his course shirt and put on a flexen one. 1739 Sharp Surgery Introd. 52 The best Materials for making Ligatures are the Flaxen Thread that Shoe⁓makers use. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 405 A patent for spinning a flaxen thread. 1876 Rock Text. Fabr. i. 6 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. |
b. Of the colour of dressed flax: chiefly in reference to the hair. † flaxen wheat (see quots.).
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §34 Flaxen wheate hath a yelowe eare. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. v. 196 All Flaxen was his Pole. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 551 That kind of Wheat which amongst the English is called Flaxen⁓wheat, being as vvhite or vvhiter than the finest Flax. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. ii. ii. (1624) 376 Leland commends Guithera..for a faire flaxen haire. 1720 Gay Poems (1745) I. 179 Nor is the flaxen wig with safety worn. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 182 He [the sick horse] had a white mouth and a flaxen tongue. 1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley i, That..drooping head, with its wealth of showering flaxen curls. |
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 Who tends the culture of the flaxen reed. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts II. 405 The flaxen trades of the United Kingdom. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as flaxen-haired, flaxen-headed, flaxen-wigged adjs.; flaxen-egg (dial.), ‘an abortive egg’ (Halliwell).
| 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 293 The people generally are..*flaxen haired. 1863 I. Williams Baptistery i. vii. (1874) 84 An Angel..Like a flaxen-hairèd child. |
† B. n. 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. 1672 J. Lacy Dumb Lady ii. Dram. Wks. (1875) 44 I'll see you byried in the flaxen your grandam spun herself. 1696 J. F. Merchant's Ware-ho. 16 Flaxens..made of the same Flax as the former. |
▪ II. flaxen, v. dial.
(ˈflæksən)
[Cf. flax v. 2.]
(See quot.).
| 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss., Flaxen, to beat, thrash. ‘Ah followed 'im up, an' flaxened him well.’ |