preemern.
/ˈpriːmə/, U.S. /ˈprimər/ Weaving. Now historical and rare.
A person, esp. a boy, whose task is to clean the teasel rods and handles at a cotton mill.
ΚΠ
1814 G. Walker Costume of Yorks. 53 (caption) The preemer boy.
a1903 F. M. Lupton in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 611/1 [W. Yorkshire] Preemer, a boy who cleans teazles.
1999 C. Tuttle Hard at Work in Factories & Mines iv. 103 The children helped as ‘carpers’ and ‘preemers’. Children of both genders prepared the thistle-teasels used in this procedure, while primarily boys cleaned the teasel rods and handles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1814