Citations:wash-ball

English citations of wash-ball

1. (archaic) A ball or cake of substance used for bathing or personal cleansing, or to produce a lather for shaving; a ball of soap.
   • 1688, Peter Pett, The Happy Future State of England: or, A Discourse by Way of a Letter to the Late Earl of Anglesey , London: , →OCLC, page 26:

     […] as meanly as if a General in the time of Battel having ſome dirt or duſt lighting on his face, ſhould while he was among the bullets employ his barbers waſhballs to cleanſe it, and that too when the fate of the battel ſeems to totter and is near deciſion one way or another, […]

   • 1775, John Ash, The New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language: In which All the Words are Introduced, the Different Spellings Preserved, the Sounds of the Letters occasionally Distinguished, the Obsolete and Uncommon Words Supported by Authorities, and the Different Construction and Uses Illustrated by Examples. To which is Prefixed, a Comprehensive Grammar. By John Ash, LL.D. Author of Grammatical Institutes; or, An Easy Introduction to Dr. Lowth's English Grammar. In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly in the Poultry; and R. Baldwin in Pater-Noster Row, →OCLC, page :

     Waſh′ball (s[ubstantive] from waſh, and ball) A ball made of ſoap and uſed in waſhing the hands.

   • 1778, The New London Toilet: or, a Compleat Collection of the Most Simple and Useful Receipts for Preserving and Improving Beauty, either by Outward Application or Internal Use. ‎, London: Printed for Richardson and Urquhart, under the Royal-Exchange, →OCLC, page 83:

     324. To make a common Waſh-Ball. Take four ounces of oil of almonds, and mix it with an equal quantity of pot aſhes, quick lime, and oil of olives; bruiſe the whole together in a mortar, and it will make a moſt excellent ſoap.

   • 1786, "Mr. Town" (George Colman the Elder and Bonnell Thornton), The Connoisseur, OCLC 70439968, published in Harrison's British Classicks. Vol. VI. Containing The Connoisseur, The Citizen of the World, and The Babler, volume VI, London: Printed for Harrison and Co., OCLC 83276367, page 121:

     Would you think it, Sir? though this houſe had a family in it, and a family of females too, not a drop of Benjamin-waſh, nor a duſt of almond-powder, could be procured there, nor indeed in all the pariſh; and I was forced to ſcrub my hands with filthy waſh-ball, which ſo ruined their complexion, that laying in dog-ſkin gloves will not recover them this fortnight.

   • 1799, Godfrey Smith, The Laboratory; or, School of Arts: Containing a Large Collection of Valuable Secrets, Experiments, and Manual Operations in Arts and Manufactures, Highly Useful to Gilders, Jewellers, Enamellers, Goldsmiths, Dyers, Cutlers, Pewterers, Joiners, Japanners, Book-binders, Plasterers, Artists, and to the Workers in Metals in General; and in Plaster of Paris, Wood, Ivory, Bone, Horn, and other Materials. Compiled Originally by G. Smith. Sixth Edition, with a Great Number of Additional Receipts, Corrections, and Amendments; a Complete Treatise on Fire-works, and the Art of Short-hand Writing. Illustrated with Engravings, 6th edition, London: Printed by C. Whittingham, Dean Street, Fetter Lane, for H. D. Symonds, J. Wallis, and Wynne and Scholey, Paternoster-Row; and Vernor and Hood, Poultry, →OCLC, page 400:

     To make sweet-scented Wash-balls. Take of the whitest new Castile soap, as much as you think proper; scrape or grate it, and then temper it with rose-water: thus set it for eight days in the sun; then add to it a few grains of musk, and, by stirring it about, reduce it to a thick paste, of which you may form excellent wash-balls.

   • 1805, Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy: Excelling Anything of the Kind ever yet Published Also, the Order of a Bill of Fare for each Month, in the Manner the Dishes are to Placed upon the Table, in the Present Taste, 1st American edition, Alexandria, Va.: Printed by Cottom and Stewart, and sold at their Bookstores, OCLC 15445638; reprinted with historical notes by Karen Hess, Bedford, Mass.: Applewood Books, 1997, 978-1-55709-462-9, page 306:

     To make Red, Light, or Purple Wash-Balls. Get some white-soap, beat it in a mortar; then put it into a pan, and cover it down close; make them very round, and put them into a band-box or a sieve two or three days; then scrape them a little with a wash-ball scraper (which are made for that purpose,) and let them lie eight or nine days; afterwards scrape them very smooth and to your mind.

   • 1816, Encyclopaedia perthensis; or, Universal Dictionary of the Arts, Sciences, Literature, &c. Intended to Supersede the Use of other Books of Reference. Illustrated with Three Hundred and Seventy Plates and Maps. Second Edition, in Twenty-three Volumes, 2nd edition, volume XXIII, Edinburgh: Printed by John Brown, Anchor Close, for the proprietors, and sold by all the booksellers in the United Kingdom, →OCLC, page 88:

     WASHBALL. n.ſ [waſh and ball.] Ball made of ſoap. – He ſaid he was like a waſh-ball, always in decay. Swift.

   • 1819, John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language: To which are Prefixed Principles of English Pronunciation likewise, Rules to be Observed by Natives of Scotland, Ireland and London and Directions to Foreigners the whole Interspersed with Observations, Etymological, Critical, and Grammatical : To which is Annexed, A Key to the Classical Pronunciation of Greek, Latin, and Scripture Proper Names, etc, New York, N.Y.: Collins and Hannay, →OCLC, page 594:

     WASHBALL, […] Ball made of soap.

   • 1822, Charles Lillie, edited by Colin Mackenzie, The British Perfumer: Being a Collection of Choice Receipts and Observations Made during an Extensive Practice of Thirty Years, by which any Lady or Gentleman may Prepare their own Articles of the Best Quality, whether of Perfumery, Snuffs, or Colours, 2nd edition, London: Printed for J. Souter, 73, St. Paul's Church-yard; for W. Seaman, New-York; and sold by all booksellers, →OCLC, pages 240–241:

     COMPOSITION OF COMMON WASH-BALLS (No. I.) Take fifty-six pounds of fine dry wheaten flour, commonly called Hertfordshire whites, fifty-six pounds of Spanish white, which is merely a fine sort of whitening in large cakes, said to be made chiefly for this purpose; being entirely freed from sand or dirt. […] Now mix the flour and whitening together, and add to them fifty-six pounds of starch powder, or rather of ground rice, which will not only dry the wash-balls much harder, but will also preserve the shape and beauty of them much better.

   • 1833, James Rennie, A New Supplement to the Pharmacopœias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris; forming a Complete Dispensatory and Conspectus; including the new French Medicines, and Poisons; with Symptoms, Treatment, and Tests , 3rd rev. edition, London: Printed for Baldwin and Cradock, →OCLC, page 482:

     Chemical Wash-Balls. Take ℔v of white oil-soap, shave or scrape it as above, and then add to it ℔ij of fine rice powder, ℔ss of white lead, and ℔ss of pure and unmixed subnitrate of bismuth, both in the state of fine powder.