Throwster

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A worker in a textile mill who operates machinery that twists silk or similar fibers into yarn
2. Someone employed to spin and twist silk filaments into strong thread on a specialized mill machine
3. A mill operative whose job is to twist silk fibres together to make thread for weaving

Etymology: "Throwster" names a worker who twists silk thread, and its story is in the parts it is built from. The first is the verb "throw", which in this older sense meant to twist or spin silk, not to hurl something. The second is the suffix "-ster", which marks a person who does a particular job, as in "spinster" or "brewster". Put together, a throwster is simply one who throws silk: the word describes a trade rather than a general action. The word first appears in English in Middle English as "throwesters", the plural form, which shows it was already in use as a job title in the medieval period. Its usefulness lay in naming a specific craft in the silk industry, where thread had to be twisted before it could be woven.