femble

plural fembles · alternative fimble

1. alternativecountableuncountableAlternative form of fimble (“(male, early-ripening) hemp”) (sometimes said, variously, to be specifically either coarse-fibred hemp or hemp prepared for use).

   two linen table clothes, one femble tablecloth, two linen towels, […]

   1859, Surtees Society, York Minster, James Raine, Publications of the Surtees Society, page 162

   4 more examples

   ... with nettles and other rubbish, sowed hemp on six acres three roods; he got two last and one half of seed , without taking the advantage of picking the femble hemp; after threshing he stacked it, and in the spring watered and dressed it.

   1804, Repertory of arts, manufactures and agriculture, The Repertory of arts and manufactures [afterw.] arts, manufactures and agriculture, page 77

   The next year 65 stone of "femble" hemp1 were bought" […] ¹ There were three buyers of cloth and one of tow in 1622. ² "Femble" hemp was the term applied to the fibre as prepared for use. (Vide Oxf. Dict.)

   1934, The Treatment of Poverty in Cambridgeshire 1597-1834, CUP Archive, page 35

   Sometimes also 'femble' sheets were listed. Often in the chests in which the bed linen was kept were towels, napkins, table-cloths and carpets (here a table and not a floor covering). Robert More (d. 1559) added variety by having a salting trough in his parlour, presumably kept under the bed, […]

   1954, The Lincolnshire Historian

   John Parish of Beltoft, who died in 1590, left linen cloth, femble, and harden cloth worth £3 5s. 4d., femble yarn and harden yarn worth ten shillings, heckled line and femble worth two shillings and sixpence, braked hemp worth six shillings and ...

   2003, Joan Thirsk, Rural Economy of England, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 155