Daily AncestorBurler
A burler removed knots, lumps and other small faults from newly woven cloth, a finishing job in textile mills.
Burl here means a knot or lump in thread or cloth, and to burl is to take such knots out. After weaving, the burler went over the cloth picking out knots and lumps so the finished fabric would be smooth and even.
Do not confuse it with burl, the knotty growth on a tree prized by woodworkers for veneer, which is a different sense of the same word.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1880 to 1940 census
Ellen Daly, 19, Burler, Woolen mill
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Burler." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/burler. Last checked 2026-10-10.