drawboys

Noun

drawboy (plural drawboys)

1. (historical) A boy who operates the harness cords of a drawloom.
   • At some time in the fifteenth century a silk-worker called John of Calabria, an Italian immigrant, had introduced a new kind of silk-weaving loom, which made the process somewhat easier. The basic difference between weaving wool (or linen) and silk lies in the fineness of the latter's threads....1978, James Burke, Connections, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, pages 108-109
2. Part of a power loom that performs the same function.