gig mill
- noun
- Archaic
:
taller de gig
- Many gig mills are located in the textile district.
- a new gig mill
Examples
-
The manager praised the efficiency of the new gig mill in raising the fabric nap.
-
During the nineteenth century, the gig mill was essential in finishing woolen textiles.
-
The factory installed a new gig mill to improve the softness of its blankets.
-
Workers in the gig mill monitored the fabric closely as it passed over the wire cylinders.
-
The gig mill produced incredibly soft fabrics.
-
At the factory, the gig mill was celebrated for its ability to enhance the texture of the textiles.
-
After the installation, the gig mill began working smoothly, raising the nap of the fabric significantly.
Synonyms
4
3.3
A factory that makes cloth and other fabrics on a large scale
A factory machine that uses wire rollers to lift fibers and make fabric soft and fuzzy
Surface Forms
Morphology
gig + mill
The specific meaning 'a textile mill that uses rotary wire cylinders to raise the nap on fabric' is a technical, domain‑specific sense that is not recoverable from the constituents: 'mill' only signals a processing facility and 'gig' here is a specialized/historical term (absent or with different common meanings such as a short job or performance). Even if a learner knows common senses of both words, they would not predict this mechanical/textile function without prior exposure, so it is opaque.
Etymology
Gig mill gets its name from the tool called a gig, a rotating drum covered with many short metal wires that brushed cloth as it turned. Those wires 'raised the nap' by pulling up tiny fibers to make the cloth soft, so a gig mill is a mill that uses this brushing to finish fabric.