burlers

His wife superintended in his day, the long rows of "burlers," or women who picked over the woolen cloth he made.

History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II Matilda Joslyn Gage 1862

This became now somewhat uneven and irregular in appearance, and full of knots and fuzzes which were picked out with hand-tweezers by burlers before it was fulled or milled, as it was sometimes called.

Home Life in Colonial Days Alice Morse Earle 1881

(l2) then examined for all hair and impurities to be picked off by "burlers."

Rides on Railways Samuel Sidney 1848