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:
In the U. S. Navy the holystone has been used since the Government first built ships.
From Time Magazine Archive
But last week the holystone passed out of U. S. Naval tradition.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nevertheless, there were always corners where the holystone had to be applied by hand.
From Time Magazine Archive
He went to the pump for more water, and the man crawled back to his holystone.
From "Where Angels Fear to Tread" and Other Stories of the Sea by Morgan Robertson
Outside the door stood a bucket of water, a big holystone beside it, while the one-eyed seaman Birch was just rising to his feet from the deck.
From The Pirate Shark by Fred J. Arting
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
They said her decks were as white as snow,— holystoned every morning, like a man-of-war's; everything on board ``ship-shape and Bristol fashion''; a fine crew, three mates, a sailmaker and carpenter, and all complete.
From Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana
Below the holystoned decks the watch snored, unaware that the tide hung at its flood and that a wan yellow sun was rising over the Coast Range like a paper lantern in a summer's garden.
From The Ice Pilot by Henry Leverage
The floors were holystoned nearly every day, and the whole house was repainted about twice a year, a little at a time, when the weather was suitable for this marine recreation.
From The Magic Egg and Other Stories by Frank Richard Stockton
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
Formerly applied by seamen on hands and knees, holystoning is now performed with long-handled implements, mopwise.
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
The between-decks were high enough to allow of jumping, and being clear, and white, from holystoning, made a good dancing-hall.
From Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana
At about six every morning we are roused by the sailors holystoning the decks, under the superintendence of the officer of the watch.
From A Boy's Voyage Round the World by Samuel Smiles
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
