yelmed

Verb

yelm (third-person singular simple present yelms, present participle yelming, simple past and past participle yelmed)

1. (UK, dialectal, transitive) To choose and lay out (straw) straight to be used for animal fodder or thatching; to helm.
   • Horses thrive particularly well upon it [furze], and are exceedingly lively and hearty in their work; but I have usually given it to them mixed with chaff, containing one part hay, and two parts straw, yelmed together, and cut by a chaff-cutter.1802 September, O. [pseudonym], “On the Cultivation of Furze”, in The Commercial and Agricultural Magazine, volume VII, number XXXVIII, London: […] Vaughan Griffiths, […], →OCLC, page 201
2. (UK, dialectal, intransitive) To choose and lay out straw straight to be used for animal fodder or thatching; to helm.
   • [T]wo or three women are busy ‘yelming’—i.e., separating the straw, selecting the longest and laying it level and parallel, damping it with water, and preparing it for the yokes.1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The Hamlet—Cottage Astrology—Ghost Lore—Herbs—The Waggon and Its Crew—Stiles—The Trysting-place—The Thatcher—Smugglers—Ague”, in Wild Life in a Southern County […]...

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