Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A preparation of graphite or plumbago used to rub over the surface of iron stoves, in order to give it a glossy appearance and to protect the iron from rusting.
Etymologies
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Examples
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The effect of a training so rigid -- training which sometimes includes stove-blacking and floor-washing -- is to try the pure metal, to eject the merely ornamental young lady whose nature is dross, and to consolidate the valuable nature that is sterling.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 11, No. 23, February, 1873 Various
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S.T. — 1860 — X. man, and the stove-blacking man, and the kidney-cure man, because they advertised in that way; and I've read articles about it in the papers; but I don't see where the joke comes in, exactly.
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He thought how a gambler at the State fair picked him out for a greeny before he had fairly got through the gate, and wondered how the gambler could have known he was so green without being told, and yet he carried a sign of greenness, from the faded and sunburned hair of his head to the sole of his stove-blacking shoes.
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"Didn't you know better than to put stove-blacking on that stove?
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"I've heard a good deal of talk about that S.T. -- 1860 -- X. man, and the stove-blacking man, and the kidney-cure man, because they advertised in that way; and I've read articles about it in the papers; but I don't see where the joke comes in, exactly.
The Rise of Silas Lapham William Dean Howells 1878
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