fearnought

noun

variants or less commonly fearnaught

ˈ⸗ˌ⸗

plural -s

1

: a thick heavy overcoating that is made of wool often mixed with shoddy and that has a rough shaggy face

also : a garment made of this material

called also dreadnought

2

a

: a machine for disentangling woolen fiber prior to carding that consists usually of one large cylinder with hooked teeth and several worker and stripper rollers

b

: a picker preceding the card

Word History

Etymology

fear entry 2 + nought, naught

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