pern en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /pɜː(ɹ)n/
Etymology
Presumably from a verb pern, a variant of preen, from Middle English prene; pernyng is read by some editors in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (v. 611) and interpreted as the present participle of this verb, also reflected dialectally as pirn (“reel; bobbin”). See also pirl.
Meanings
-
Part of a spinning wheel, a conical spool onto which the thread is wound from the spindle.
Model of a patent machine for winding yarn from the hank, upon the shuttlecope or pern.
1851, Official catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, page 38:In one division the spindles carry the bobbins revolving inside a kind of cup or cone fitting down upon the pern, and the latter is shaped to fit accurately this conical surface.
1894, The New Technical Educator: An Encyclopaedia of Technical Education, volume 3, page 234:[…] these yarns are to be wove in the usual way of weaving canvas, but the weft to come off the pern or quill double […]
1813 February 4, “Specification of the Patent granted to William Broughton […] for a Method of making a peculiar Species of Canvas”, in The Repertory of Arts, Manufactures, and Agriculture, page 72:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| perns | Number=Plur | lexicographic |