🧵 A stiffening substance 📏 Measuring sizes

sizing

8.2

A sticky substance applied to cloth or paper to fill small holes and make them stiffer

noun
/ˈsaɪzɪŋ/

Specialized

: apresto

Once I've stretched the paper, I'll paint it with a with a kind of sizing material, often with a colour so it has a kind of stain to it.

Examples

But I'm not comfortable trusting that old rabbit skin glue size to stabilize this painting.
Before applying the gold leaf, ensure that the surface has been treated with a proper sizing material.
So the gold will stick to the size, and as the size fully dries, it will create a really good bond.
In textile production, sizing is used to stiffen the fabric and improve its durability.
The artist applied sizing to the canvas to prevent the paint from soaking in too deeply.

Synonyms

size

vssizing

Specialized

24 9.4

A thick liquid like glue used to stiffen cloth or paper

has identical meaning but is the term for the applied material

sizer

vssizing

Specialized

8.6

A chemical applied to fabric or paper to stop it soaking up water

focuses more narrowly on filling pores and stiffening fabrics

How Stiff

resin

Specialized

26 4.4

sizing

Specialized

8.2

laundry stiffener

5.7

starch

9 3.7

Surface Forms

sizing singular

sizings plural

Morphology

sizing = size (opaque) = size + ing

The form is built from size + -ing, but the relevant verb sense of size is specialized and not the common meaning of size as measurement.

Etymology

Sizing (the glue or paste) comes from the old idea of the word size meaning 'to set' or 'make firm'; the paste 'sets' the cloth or fills its tiny holes, which is why this treatment is called 'sizing'.