[f. WASH v.]
† 1. ? A mill-race in which sheep are washed. Obs.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 317. Being … to wash our sheep on the morrow, I asked my shepherd, what time in the morning he would drive them to the wash-mills.
2. Brick-making, etc. A machine for washing clay or materials for cement.
1856. Builder, 16 Aug., 443/3. The principal machines which have been worked for this purpose [brick-making] are three—1st. The pug-mill. 2nd. The wash-mill. 3rd. The rolling-mill.
1879. Spon’s Dict. Engin., Suppl. I. 332. These [sc. limestone and clay] are mixed in what are known as wash mills.
3. Leather Manuf. A machine for washing skins after unhairing by the application of lime.
1897. C. T. Davis, Manuf. Leather (ed. 2), 377. From the unhairing room the skins pass to the ‘wash-mill,’ where they receive a thorough washing, removing all adhering lime.
