noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The process of decomposing or loosening the gummy bast fibre from the stem of flax and hemp, by outdoor exposure, to dew, rain, and sunshine. uncountable

Etymology

From dew + retting.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.