Easton's Bible Dictionary The word "full" is from the Anglo-Saxon fullian, meaning "to whiten." To full is to press or scour cloth in a mill. This art is one of great antiquity. Mention is made of "fuller's soap" (Malachi 3:2), and of "the fuller's field" (2 Kings 18:17). At his transfiguration our Lord's rainment is said to have been white "so as no fuller on earth could white them" (Mark 9:3). En-rogel (q.v.), meaning literally "foot-fountain," has been interpreted as the "fuller's fountain," because there the fullers trod the cloth with their feet. Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) One whose occupation is to full cloth. 2. (n.) A die; a half-round set hammer, used for forming grooves and spreading iron; -- called also a creaser. 3. (v. t.) To form a groove or channel in, by a fuller or set hammer; as, to fuller a bayonet. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia FULLER fool'-er (kabhac; literally, "to trample," gnapheus): The fuller was usually the dyer, since, before the woven cloth could be properly dyed, it must be freed from the oily and gummy substances naturally found on the raw fiber. Many different substances were in ancient times used for cleansing. Among them were white clay, putrid urine, and the ashes of certain desert plants (Arabic qali, Biblical "soap"; Malachi 3:2). The fuller's shop was usually outside the city (2 Kings 18:17 Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 36:2), first, that he might have sufficient room to spread out his cloth for drying and sunning, and second, because of the offensive odors sometimes produced by his processes. The Syrian indigo dyer still uses a cleaning process closely allied to that pictured on the Egyptian monuments. The unbleached cotton is soaked in water and then sprinkled with the powdered ashes of the ishnan, locally called qali, and then beaten in heaps on a flat stone either with another stone or with a large wooden paddle. The cloth is washed free from the alkali by small boys treading on it in a running stream or in many changes of clean water (compare En-rogel, literally, "foot fountain," but translated also "fuller's fountain" because of the fullers' method of washing their cloth). Mark describes Jesus' garments at the time of His transfiguration as being whiter than any fuller on earth could whiten them (Mark 9:3). James A. Patch

Multi-Version Concordance Fuller (5 Occurrences) Mark 9:3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. (KJV ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV) Acts 18:26 And he was preaching in the Synagogue without fear. But Priscilla and Aquila, hearing his words, took him in, and gave him fuller teaching about the way of God. (BBE) Colossians 1:10 so that your lives may be worthy of the Lord and perfectly pleasing to Him, while you exhibit the results of right action of every sort and grow into a fuller knowledge of God. (WEY) Ezekiel 36:30 And I will make the tree give more fruit and the field fuller produce, and no longer will you be shamed among the nations for need of food. (BBE) Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: (Root in KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)