lapstone
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun A stone held in the lap on which shoemakers hammer leather to make it more solid.
Examples
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The lady stands in the centre of the stage, and rests her unslippered foot on a small box, while the knight of the lapstone and hammer is engaged in taking the measure of her foot.
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I do not remember the words, but they were gross: the chief _fun_ seemed to consist in the chorus, -- a sort of _burring_ noise being made with the lips, while the doubled fists were rubbed and thumped upon the thigh, as if the cobbler's lapstone had been there.
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Work, work, work, from weary chime to chime; tramp behind the plough, hammer on the lapstone, beat the anvil, drive the plane, from morn till dewy eve; but when the dewy eve comes, ah!
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They were visited by Dr.H. Johnstone-Lavis, the correspondent to _Nature_, whose investigations had convinced him that the object was a shoemaker's lapstone.
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In earlier times the shoemaker used to go from house to house with his lapstone, waxed end, awl, and other tools.
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The pail was set upon a flat stone like a cobbler's lapstone, and the coffee berries were broken by using the butt of the bayonet as a pestle.
Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, Volume 2 November 1863-June 1865
Note
The word 'lapstone' is a compound of 'lap' and 'stone'.
