holystone
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Etymology
Origin of holystone
1815–25; holy + stone; perhaps originally jocular or profane
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But last week the holystone passed out of U. S. Naval tradition.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the U. S. Navy the holystone has been used since the Government first built ships.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nevertheless, there were always corners where the holystone had to be applied by hand.
From Time Magazine Archive
He pointed to a man who with one hand was rubbing a small holystone in a corner where a large one would not go.
From "Where Angels Fear to Tread" and Other Stories of the Sea by Morgan Robertson
At five o'clock we have to get up and go inside again so they can holystone the deck.
From Parrot & Co. by Harold MacGrath
A third WPA crew, he was told, had got at a bronze Washington in front of Independence Hall, holystoned away every trace of its treasured greenish mold.
From Time Magazine Archive
Dingy decks were holystoned white, and the rigging was taut, tarred, and dressed in its chafing gear.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
The uncarpeted floor of narrow boards is caulked and holystoned like a deck.
From Heartbreak House by Bernard Shaw
Indeed, the principal use for a crew aboard the Seamew was to keep the brasswork polished and the decks holystoned, it seemed to Mart.
From The Pirate Shark by Fred J. Arting
He had the floor of the portion we dwelt in holystoned every week; and numberless little racks and shelves were fitted up all over the house.
From Stories by English Authors: Africa (Selected by Scribners) by W. C. (William Charles) Scully
Formerly applied by seamen on hands and knees, holystoning is now performed with long-handled implements, mopwise.
From Time Magazine Archive
Each of the crew of six boys who manned the Indra had paid $1,500 for the privilege of rigging her sails, holystoning her decks, polishing her brass every morning until June.
From Time Magazine Archive
So I went inside to where he was holystoning the taproom table.
From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
Skipper Simms kept the men busy painting and holystoning as a vent for their pent emotions.
From The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs
From four to six in the early morning, it is almost impossible watch below to snatch a little sleep, as immediately over their heads are men scrubbing, or holystoning the upper deck.
From From Lower Deck to Pulpit by Henry Cowling
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