steel wool
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of steel wool
First recorded in 1895–1900
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.
Maintenance is straightforward: The pan is dishwasher safe, metal utensil-friendly and can handle steel wool.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
His Jewish Cuban father owned a steel wool factory; his mother, a Jewish Romanian, narrowly survived the Holocaust when her family caught one of the last ships to Cuba.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
Crumb’s aggressively nontraditional scores — a vitrine of which were displayed outside the Coolidge Auditorium on Saturday — and his unorthodox approach to the instrument rubbed Rorem like steel wool on piano wire.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 21, 2022
The letters that spell out the store’s name have been aged using steel wool, and only a few people will see music posters in the store window when the light hits them right.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 7, 2022
He had steel wool in his heavily gloved hand.
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
Definitions 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.
