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The act or process of preparing flax for use by soaking, meceration, and kindred processes; -- also called rotting. See Ret. Ure.

Dewrotting; the process of decomposing the gummy matter of flax and hemp and setting the fibrous part, by exposure on a sward to dew, rain, and sunshine.

t, a doublet of the 16th century, hanging down so as to cover the belly. Shak. -- Belly fretting, the chafing of a horse's belly with a girth. Johnson. -- Belly timber, food. [Ludicrous] Prior. -- Belly worm, a worm that breeds or lives in the belly (stomach or intestines). Johnson.

The woody portion flax, which is separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

Having the quality of fretting or vexing. Care is no cure, but corrosive. Shak. Corrosive sublimate (Chem.), mercuric chloride, HgCl2; so called because obtained by sublimation, and because of its harsh irritating action on the body tissue. Usually it is in the form of a heavy, transparent, crystalline substance, easil…

To ret or rot by the process called dewretting.

To rot, as flax or hemp, by exposure to rain, dew, and sun. See Dewretting.

A fretting; a festering; soreness. Hooker.

to tire with repeated and exhausting efforts; esp., to weary by importunity, teasing, or fretting; to cause to endure excessive burdens or anxieties; -- sometimes followed by out. [Troops] harassed with a long and wearisome march. Bacon. Nature oppressed and harass'd out with care. Addison. Vext with lawyers and harass…

le twisted, used for winding around ropes and cables, to prevent their being weakened by fretting. Marline spike, Marling spike (Naut.), an iron tool tapering to a point, used to separate the strands of a rope in splicing and in marling. It has an eye in the thick end to which a lanyard is attached. See Fid. [Written a…

The fretting or dimpling of the surface, as of running water; little curling waves.

ly pained, grieved, or vexed; very susceptible of irritation. Malice and hatred are very fretting and vexatious, and apt to make our minds sore and uneasy. Tillotson.

To work slowly, gradually, and secretly. When debates and fretting jealousy Did worm and work within you more and more, Your color faded. Herbert.