The Collaborative International Dictionary
Flax \Flax\ (fl[a^]ks), n. [AS. fleax; akin to D. vlas, OHG. flahs, G. flachs, and prob. to flechten to braid, plait,m twist, L. plectere to weave, plicare to fold, Gr. ? to weave, plait. See Ply.]
(Bot.) A plant of the genus Linum, esp. the L. usitatissimum, which has a single, slender stalk, about a foot and a half high, with blue flowers. The fiber of the bark is used for making thread and cloth, called linen, cambric, lawn, lace, etc. Linseed oil is expressed from the seed.
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The skin or fibrous part of the flax plant, when broken and cleaned by hatcheling or combing. Earth flax (Min.), amianthus. Flax brake, a machine for removing the woody portion of flax from the fibrous. Flax comb, a hatchel, hackle, or heckle. Flax cotton, the fiber of flax, reduced by steeping in bicarbonate of soda and acidulated liquids, and prepared for bleaching and spinning like cotton. --Knight. Flax dresser, one who breaks and swingles flax, or prepares it for the spinner. Flax mill, a mill or factory where flax is spun or linen manufactured. Flax puller, a machine for pulling flax plants in the field. Flax wench.
A woman who spins flax. [Obs.]
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A prostitute. [Obs.]
--Shak.Mountain flax (Min.), amianthus.
New Zealand flax (Bot.) See Flax-plant.
Wikipedia
Flax mills are mills concerned with the manufacture of flax. The earliest mills were ones for spinning yarn for the linen industry.
John Kendrew (an optician) and Thomas Porthouse (a clockmaker), both of Darlington developed the process from Richard Arkwright's water frame, and patented it in 1787. The first machine was set up in Low Mill on the River Skerne at Darlington, which Kendrew used to grind glass. They then each set up a mill of their own, Kendrew near Haughton-le-Skerne and Porthouse near Coatham Mundeville, both on the same river.
They also granted permits, enabling others to build mills, including in northeast Scotland, where early mills included those at Douglastown in Kinnettles, Bervie, Dundee. Others were built at Leeds. Matthew Murray moved from Darlington to set up a mill at Adel near Leeds, where Murray built an improved spinning machine for John Marshall. In 1791, Marshall built another mill at Holbeck in Leeds. Murray went on to become a noted textile engineer, as a partner in Fenton, Murray, and Wood.
Ditherington Flax Mill at Shrewsbury was built by Marshall and Benyons of Leeds in 1797 and was the first iron-framed textile mill anywhere.
Usage examples of "flax mill".
In the spring of 1973, the new Lieutenant Martin went straight to Hythe to take over a platoon in preparatory training for Northern Ireland, and he commanded the platoon during twelve miserable weeks crouching in an observation post called Flax Mill that covered the ultra-Republican enclave of Ardoyne, Belfast.