Desized

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Stripped the starch or gum sizing from woven fabric before it was dyed or finished
2. Washed away the protective starch coating that had been applied to yarn or cloth during weaving
3. Removed the stiffening agent from a textile so that it could be bleached or dyed evenly

Etymology: "Desized" is the past tense and past participle of "desize," a verb formed in English from the prefix "de-" and the noun "size." The "size" in question is the starch, gum, or glue-like coating that weavers apply to yarn before it goes onto a loom, where it stiffens the threads so they withstand the strain of weaving. Removing that coating after the cloth is woven is the process "desize" describes, so the verb is essentially a technical term from textile manufacturing. The prefix "de-" carries the sense of reversal or removal, as in "decode" or "defrost," and it attaches here to a textile sense of "size" rather than to the more familiar meaning of dimensions. Readers meeting the word for the first time may assume it has something to do with measurement, but the connection runs through the older trade use of "size" for a stiffening agent.

Antonyms: sized