Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A piece of soft sandstone used for scouring the wooden decks of a ship.
- v. To scrub or scour with a piece of soft sandstone.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A soft sandstone used by seamen for scrubbing the decks of a ship. See the extract.
- To scrub with holystone, as the deck of a vessel.
Wiktionary
- n. nautical A block of soft sandstone used for scrubbing the wooden decks of a ship, usually with sand and seawater; sometimes called a bible.
- v. transitive To scrub the decks with a holystone.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Naut.) A stone used by seamen for scrubbing the decks of ships.
- v. (Naut.) To scrub with a holystone, as the deck of a vessel.
WordNet 3.0
- v. scrub with a holystone
- n. a soft sandstone used for scrubbing the decks of a ship
Etymologies
- Uncertain, but likely from the fact that scrubbing is done while down on one's knees, just as in prayer. (Wiktionary)
- Perhaps from a sailor's kneeling position while scouring with the stone. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The holystone is a large, soft stone, smooth on the bottom, with long ropes attached to each end, by which the crew keep it sliding fore and aft, over the wet, sanded decks.”
Two years before the mast, and twenty-four years after: a personal narrative
“The holystone is a large, soft stone, smooth on the bottom, with long ropes attached to each end, by which the crew keep it sliding fore and aft over the wet sanded decks.”
“For similar reasons he worked and re-worked the story of Galadriel, thinking to make her perfect with emery and holystone, but in truth only reducing her to a plaster saint.”
““Franklin, why in hell's name are you taking one hundred and thirty-four men?” rasped the holystone across rough wood.”
“Ross's voice was as rough as a holystone dragged across a splintered deck.”
“If my boot should leave a stain on the marble, George must not holystone it away.”
“No more to be trampled and stamped upon with shifty, sloppy feet — no more to be scrubbed and scored with sand and holystone; painted white, it creaks gratefully every time it swings — the symbol of security, the first outward and visible sign of home, the guardian of the sacred rights of private property, the embodiment of the exclusive.”
“It had taken the ship's boy the better part of a day to holystone that rogue's bloodstain from the Springeve's deck.”
“So we'll rub her down and scrub her down with holystone and sand”
“One of the small girls slipped on the wet patch left by Sharpe's holystone.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘holystone’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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phrontistery - h
from phrontistery.info
habanera, habergeon, habilable, habilatory, habile, habiliment, habilitate, habromania, hachure, hackle, hackney, hadal and 568 more...
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See extract
Being a list of words which have the phrase "see extract" in their definitions. You might also find a few which have "see extract under" or "see the extract."
glove-sheep, clang, bookmaker, lackadaisical, apprehend, interfluvial, fortunate, intersect, cannelon, adoration, canter, headrace and 10 more...
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Scriptie: Master and Commander
Nice ambient words from the movie. (With apologies to Patrick O'Brian.) Aaaah, life at sea...aboard a hulk of the British navy in 1805...
surprise, acheron, guns, souls, oceans, battlefields, prize, burn, sink, privateer, hammock, lantern and 118 more...
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The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
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Hey! L...
for the same
ichthyarchy, thalassic, nip-cheese, cerement, manavalins, rockweed, polder, semipalmate, blue peter, curragh, crowfoot, cat and 160 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, H
hurlyburly, hurtle, hodgepodge, heartwood, hatch, halo, hooptedoodle, hacienda, hairpin, heyday, hardscrabble, hopper and 208 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1408 more...
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pirates
foc'sle, pirate, buccaneer, landlubber, dubloon, bilge, barque, privateer, brigantine, bosun, corsair, coffer and 21 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for holystone.
yarb They said her decks were as white as snow,-- holystoned every morning, like a man-of-war's...
- Richard Henry Dana Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, ch. 20 Sep 6, 2008
chained_bear I'm adding it as an honorary word to my Scriptie: Master and Commander, because though I've never heard this word before, they use one in the movie. (I always wondered what the hell it was! Thanks, skipv!) Oct 15, 2007
reesetee Great word! Oct 15, 2007
skipvia Sandstone rocks used to scrub the wooden decks of sailing vessels, so named because the deckhands appeared to be praying when they were using it. Oct 14, 2007