Home British & World English ret

Definition of ret in English:

ret

(also rate)

verbrets, retting, retted

[with object]

  • Soak (flax or hemp) in water to soften it.

    ‘the flax has been retted and used as linen to produce the fabric’
    • ‘Under old methods, hemp was cut and allowed to lie in the fields for weeks until it retted enough so the fiber could be pulled off by hand.’
    • ‘Flax was grown in the country districts, ‘retted’ and ‘heckled’ in small ponds and mills, spun and woven in the single-storey ‘improved’ cottages of the villages.’
    dampen, damp, moisten, humidify

Origin

Late Middle English related to Dutch reten, also to rot.

Pronunciation

ret

/rɛt/