[f. FLUSH a.1 5.]
1. trans. To make flush or level; to fill in (a joint) level with the surface; to ‘point.’
1842. Gwilt, Encycl. Archit., Gloss., Flush … to leave no vacant space where the stones or bricks do not nicely fit in their places.
1883. H. S. Drinker, Tunnelling, in Eissler, Mod. High Explosives (1884), 238. In driving a heading, particular care should be taken that unnecessary cost in flushing the clear profile does not arise.
2. Weaving. a. trans. To throw (a thread) on the surface over several threads without intersecting. b. intr. To float over several threads without intersection. (See quots.).
1878. A. Barlow, Weaving, 175. They [the threads in tissue weaving] float or flush upon the surface of the cloth rather than form a component part of its substance. Ibid., 176. There are, consequently, two methods that can be used for flushing or throwing the thread to form the tissue figure, namely, by ordinary shuttles thrown across the whole width of the cloth, or small shuttles used at the requisite intervals.
Hence Flushing vbl. sb., the action of the vb. (sense 1); also concr. (sense 2), see quot.
1853. Archit. Publ. Soc. Dict., Flushing. The word is used by workmen to signify the operation of filling in the joints of brickwork or of masonry with mortar, in such a manner as to keep the joints full.
1878. A. Barlow, Weaving, Index. Flushing threads not required in the body of the cloth, and left loose on the surface.
