English
flax-dresser
From flax + dresser.
Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to plait’
Proto-Germanic *flahsą
Proto-West Germanic *flahs
Old English fleax ‘linen, flax’
Middle English flax ‘Flax or its fibres’
English flax
Proto-Italic *rektos
…
Vulgar Latin *dīrēctiāre ‘to straighten’
Old French drecier ‘to stand up’
Old French drecëur ‘dresser, large item of furniture’
Middle English dressure
English dresser
Today it means
noun A worker who separated the coarse part of flax or hemp with a hackle; a hackler
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / flax-dresser