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holystone

American  
[hoh-lee-stohn] / ˈhoʊ liˌstoʊn /

noun

  1. a block of soft sandstone used in scrubbing the decks of a ship.

verb (used with object)

holystoned, holystoning

  1. to scrub with a holystone.

holystone British  
/ ˈhəʊlɪˌstəʊn /

noun

  1. a soft sandstone used for scrubbing the decks of a vessel

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (tr) to scrub (a vessel's decks) with a holystone

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of holystone

1815–25; holy + stone; perhaps originally jocular or profane

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.