fuller

The word “fuller” means someone whose trade is fulling — cleaning and thickening cloth by soaking and beating it. In plain terms, an old trade word for a cloth-worker, and separately a blacksmithing tool and the groove it makes.

“Fuller” is pronounced FUU-luh (/ˈfʊ.ləɹ/ in IPA).

Here is “fuller” used in a sentence: “The bladesmith used a fuller to cut the central groove into the sword.”

“Fuller” is a noun.

The word “fuller” comes from Latin. From Old English fullere, from Latin fullo ("one who fulls cloth").

“Fuller” is an uncommon word in modern English.

“Fuller” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: someone whose trade is fulling — cleaning and thickening cloth by soaking and beating it.

In blacksmithing, a fuller is a tool used to shape a groove into hot metal by hammering, and the resulting groove itself is also called a fuller. It is commonly used to spread and shape metal during forging, including on some sword and knife blades.

A fuller was someone whose trade was fulling, the process of cleaning and thickening woven cloth by soaking and beating it. This process removed oils, dirt, and other impurities and helped compact the fibers, and the trade gave rise to the common surname Fuller.

Fuller became a common English surname because it was originally an occupational name for someone who worked as a fuller, cleaning and finishing cloth. Many English surnames derive from medieval trades in this way.