fuller

[foo l-er]

noun

a half-round hammer used for grooving and spreading iron.
a tool or part of a die for reducing the sectional area of a piece of work.
a groove running along the flat of a sword blade.

verb (used with object)

to reduce the sectional area of (a piece of metal) with a fuller or fullers.

Origin of fuller

1810–20; orig. noun, apparently full¹ in sense to make full, close, compact + -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for fullering

Historical Examples of fullering

After fullering the stock it is placed on the anvil and squared up.
The Library of Work and Play: Working in Metals
Charles Conrad Sleffel
This fullering is done on the bottom fuller, which is placed on the anvil.
The Library of Work and Play: Working in Metals
Charles Conrad Sleffel
After this fullering the forging will appear as in Fig. 2955.
Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II
Joshua Rose
Rudimentary key-hold type, much decayed but with slight traces of fullering, probably eight nail holes, four on each side.
Contributions From the Museum of History and Technology
Ivor Noel Hume
The V-piece to be welded in should bear at the bottom of the V, and the weld made by fullering.
Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II
Joshua Rose

British Dictionary definitions for fullering

fuller

noun

a person who fulls cloth for his living

Word Origin for fuller

Old English fullere, from Latin fullō

fuller

noun

Also called: fullering tool a tool for forging a groove
a tool for caulking a riveted joint

verb

(tr) to forge (a groove) or caulk (a riveted joint) with a fuller

Word Origin for fuller

C19: perhaps from the name Fuller

Fuller

noun

(Richard) Buckminster . 1895–1983, US architect and engineer: developed the geodesic dome
Roy (Broadbent). 1912–91, British poet and writer, whose collections include The Middle of a War (1942) and A Lost Season (1944), both of which are concerned with World War II, Epitaphs and Occasions (1949), and Available for Dreams (1989)
Thomas . 1608–61, English clergyman and antiquarian; author of The Worthies of England (1662)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fullering

fuller

"one who fulls cloth," Old English fullere, from Latin fullo "fuller" (see foil (v.)). The substance called fuller's earth (silicate of alumina) is first recorded 1520s, so called because it was used in cleansing cloth.