From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishflaxflax /flæks/ noun [uncountable] 1 HBPa plant with blue flowers, used for making cloth and oil2 TICthe thread made from this plant, used for making linen
Examples from the Corpus
flax• Growing alternative crops such as short rotation coppice as energy crops and fibre crops such as flax and hemp showed promise.• They prospered and employed many poor in and near London to dress flax, until the Netherlanders brought in dressed flax.• It is the holder of prepared fleece or flax from which the spinner draws out strands.• She agreed, and so they spun all the flax.• We lost the flax crop I wrote about a week ago.• The women spun the flax and were invited to the wedding as promised.• She took the lazy girl to the castle and put her in three rooms filled with flax from floor to ceiling.Origin flax Old English flæx 