Word Meanings - WHETSTONE - Book Publishers vocabulary database

A piece of stone, natural or artificial, used for whetting, or sharpening, edge tools. The dullness of the fools is the whetstone of the wits. Shak. Diligence is to the understanding as the whetstone to the razor. South. Note: Some whetstones are

Additional info about word: WHETSTONE

A piece of stone, natural or artificial, used for whetting, or sharpening, edge tools. The dullness of the fools is the whetstone of the wits. Shak. Diligence is to the understanding as the whetstone to the razor. South. Note: Some whetstones are used dry, others are moistened with water, or lubricated with oil. To give the whetstone, to give a premium for extravagance in falsehood.

Related words: (words related to WHETSTONE)

• SOUTHWEST
  Pertaining to, or in the direction of, the southwest; proceeding toward the southwest; coming from the southwest; as, a southwest wind.
• SOUTHSAY
  See SOOTHSAY
• DULLNESS
  The state of being dull; slowness; stupidity; heaviness; drowsiness; bluntness; obtuseness; dimness; want of luster; want of vividness, or of brightness. And gentle dullness ever loves a joke. Pope.
• SOUTHWESTERLY
  To ward or from the southwest; as, a southwesterly course; a southwesterly wind.
• SOUTHPAW
  A pitcher who pitches with the left hand.
• STONEBRASH
  A subsoil made up of small stones or finely-broken rock; brash.
• NATURALIST
  1. One versed in natural science; a student of natural history, esp. of the natural history of animals. 2. One who holds or maintains the doctrine of naturalism in religion. H. Bushnell.
• SOUTHERNLINESS
  Southerliness.
• NATURAL STEEL
  Steel made by the direct refining of cast iron in a finery, or, as wootz, by a direct process from the ore.
• WHETTLEBONES
  The vertebræ of the back. Dunglison.
• SOUTHREN
  Southern. "I am a Southren man." Chaucer.
• STONEROOT
  A North American plant having a very hard root; horse balm. See Horse balm, under Horse.
• RAZORBACK
  The rorqual.
• UNDERSTANDINGLY
  In an understanding manner; intelligibly; with full knowledge or comprehension; intelligently; as, to vote upon a question understandingly; to act or judge understandingly. The gospel may be neglected, but in can not be understandingly disbelieved.
• RAZOR-BACKED
  Having a sharp, lean, or thin back; as, a razor-backed hog, perch, etc.
• PIECER
  1. One who pieces; a patcher. 2. A child employed in spinning mill to tie together broken threads.
• STONE-STILL
  As still as a stone. Shak.
• SOUTHSAYER
  See SOOTHSAYER
• NATURAL
  Belonging to, to be taken in, or referred to, some system, in which the base is 1; -- said or certain functions or numbers; as, natural numbers, those commencing at 1; natural sines, cosines, etc., those taken in arcs whose radii are 1. (more info)
• SOUTH; SOUTHERLY
  the old squaw; -- so called in imitation of its cry. Called also southerly, and southerland. See under Old.
• PITCHSTONE
  An igneous rock of semiglassy nature, having a luster like pitch.
• CAPSTONE
  A fossil echinus of the genus Cannulus; -- so called from its supposed resemblance to a cap.
• SUPERNATURALNESS
  The quality or state of being supernatural.
• CLINKSTONE
  An igneous rock of feldspathic composition, lamellar in structure, and clinking under the hammer. See Phonolite.
• UNRAZORED
  Not shaven. Milton.
• GRINDSTONE
  A flat, circular stone, revolving on an axle, for grinding or sharpening tools, or shaping or smoothing objects. To hold, pat, or bring one's nose to the grindstone, to oppress one; to keep one in a condition of servitude. They might be ashamed,
• RUBSTONE
  A stone for scouring or rubbing; a whetstone; a rub.
• MOORSTONE
  A species of English granite, used as a building stone.
• GRINDLE STONE
  A grindstone.
• PRETERNATURALITY
  Preternaturalness. Dr. John Smith.
• SPARPIECE
  The collar beam of a roof; the spanpiece. Gwilt.
• EYESTONE
  Eye agate. See under Eye. (more info) 1. A small, lenticular, calcareous body, esp. an operculum of a small shell of the family Tubinid, used to remove a foreign sub stance from the eye. It is rut into the inner corner of the eye under the lid,
• TURNSTONE
  Any species of limicoline birds of the genera Strepsilas and Arenaria, allied to the plovers, especially the common American and European species . They are so called from their habit of turning up small stones in search of mollusks and