Etymologically a word akin to resin, a substance which is obtained as a residue after the distillation of oil of turpentine from crude turpentine (OED).
The OED defines a rough mason as one who built only with unhewn stone, and examples of the word are given from 1444. Yorkshire references show that some men so described were dry-stone wallers.
A ceremony in parts of the north, formerly widespread but surviving now in one or two localities only, notably in Sowerby Bridge. Typically, rushes and other greenery were borne to the church and spread over the floor, and the evidence suggests that it was an opportunity for singing, dancing and general merry-making. It was evidently a custom with a long tradition.
A woollen fabric, noted in 1488 and 1493 (OED), but more frequent in the sixteenth century, with reference to items of clothing such as doublets, jackets, jerkins and kirtles.
The earliest examples of this word date from the fifteenth century when they referred to countrymen, or men who followed country pursuits (OED). In the records of Healaugh Park are much earlier Latin uses which seem to point to workers of villein status working in the park.