Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Clinging bits of fiber and fluff; fuzz.
  • noun Downy material obtained by scraping linen cloth and used for dressing wounds.
  • noun The mass of soft fibers surrounding the seeds of unginned cotton.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Flax.
  • noun A flocculent material procured by raveling or scraping linen, and used for dressing wounds and sores; charpie.
  • noun Raw cotton that has been ginned and is ready for baling.
  • noun Fluff; flue.
  • noun A net.
  • noun The netting of a pound or seine.
  • noun A kerchief or net for the head.
  • noun An obsolete variant of lunt.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Flax.
  • noun Linen scraped or otherwise made into a soft, downy or fleecy substance for dressing wounds and sores; also, fine ravelings, down, fluff, or loose short fibers from yarn or fabrics.
  • noun (Calico-printing Mach.) a scraper to remove lint from a printing cylinder.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a fine material made by scraping cotton or linen cloth; used for dressing wounds
  • noun clinging fuzzy fluff that accumulates in one's pockets or navel etc
  • noun the fibrous coat of thick hairs covering the seeds of the cotton plant

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun cotton or linen fabric with the nap raised on one side; used to dress wounds
  • noun fine ravellings of cotton or linen fibers

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, variant of linet (from Old French linette, grain of flax, diminutive of lin, flax) or from Medieval Latin linteum, lint (from Latin, linen cloth), both from Latin līnum, flax; see lĭ̄no- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English linet, from Old French linette ("grain of flax"), diminutive of lin ("flax"); or, from Medieval Latin linteum, from Latin līnum ("flax").

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