holystone

Meanings

Noun

• A piece of soft sandstone used for scouring the wooden decks of ships, usually with sand and seawater.
• A stone with a naturally-formed hole, used by Yorkshiremen for good luck.

Verb

• To use a holystone.

Related

Similar words

• bible
• lucky stone

Narrower meaning words

• prayer book

Origin

• Uncertain, but equivalent to holy + stone. As an amulet, probably from holey. As a scouring stone, variously derived from holey, from the amulet, from its association with Sunday cleaning, from its users' adoption of a kneeling position similar to prayer, and (least likely) from their original provision by raiding graveyards for tombstones.