Meaning of waulk | Babel Free

Definitions

to make cloth (especially tweed in Scotland) denser and more felt-like by soaking and beating.

transitive

Examples

“The frame on which the cloth is waulked is a board some twelve to twenty-four feet long and about two feet broad, grooved lengthwise along its surface.”

“1992, Diana Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber, Random House Group (Arrow Books), page 590, I hid a smile at the mention of wool waulking. Alone among the Highland farms, I was sure, the women of Lailybroch waulked their wool not only to the old traditional chants but also to the rhythms of Moliére and Piron.”

“Here, we compare waulking songs and shanties to see how they operated in bringing women and men, respectively, into a sense of close alignment.”

CEFR level