Desize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Strips the starch or gelatin dressing from woven yarn or cloth before it is bleached or dyed
2. Takes off the protective sizing coating that was applied to textile threads to strengthen them during weaving
3. Removes the stiffening agent added to fabric so that it can be finished, bleached, or dyed evenly

Etymology: "Desize" is a textile-trade term for removing size, the starch-based stiffening applied to yarn and cloth before weaving. The "de-" prefix, meaning "remove" or "undo," attaches to "size," so the word literally means to take the sizing out of fabric. Weavers starch warp threads so they withstand the strain of the loom, and that stiffening must be washed out before the cloth can be dyed, printed or finished. Because the process is so specific to cloth production, the word stays almost entirely within the technical vocabulary of textile manufacturing, where it names one stage in a sequence rather than an action with wider uses. Its meaning is transparent from its parts, so the term needs little beyond the two elements that compose it.