ret

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To moisten or soak (flax, for example) in order to soften and separate the fibers by partial rotting.
2. v. To become so moistened or soaked.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To expose, as the gathered stems of fibrous plants, to moisture, in order, by partial fermentation or rotting, to facilitate the abstraction of the fiber. Retting is practised upon flax, hemp, jute, and other exogenous fiber-plants. Dew-retting, effected simply by exposing the material to the weather for a limited time, is largely applied to flax in Russia. Water-retting, the ordinary process, consists simply in steeping or macerating the stems in water, commonly in open ponds, sometimes in vats of warm water, the result being more speedily attained by the latter treatment.
2. To impute; ascribe.
3. A Middle English contraction of redeth (modern readeth).
4. n. The process of retting; retting.

Wiktionary

1. abbr. retired
2. v. transitive To prepare (flax, hemp etc.) for further processing by soaking, which facilitates separation of fibers from the woody parts of the stem.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. obsolete See aret.
2. v. To prepare for use, as flax, by separating the fibers from the woody part by process of soaking, macerating, and other treatment.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. place (flax, hemp, or jute) in liquid so as to promote loosening of the fibers from the woody tissue