wash-ball

English

Alternative forms

• wash ball, washball

Etymology

wash +‎ ball.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɒʃˌbɔːl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔʃˌbɔl/, /ˈwɑʃˌbɔl/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: wash‧ball

Noun

wash-ball (plural wash-balls)

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.
   • 1662, Christopher Wase, Dictionarium minus: A Compendious Dictionary English–Latin & Latin–English, London: Da. Maxwell, →OCLC, page :

     Magmata, um. The dregs of ointment, waſh-balls.

   • 1693, Age Renewed by Wedlock;Pepys Ballads; 5.159]‎, London: J. W., archived from the original on 7 October 2015:

     My Husband is a Barbar / His Washbals are admir'd, / And I have got a Bason. / Where he Ladders whilst he's tyr'd: / Thus a Youthful Bedfellow vigorous and strong, / Has made an old Woman grow young.

   • 1721, William Gibson, The Farriers Dispensatory, London: W. Taylor, →OCLC, page 179:

     Take Powder of Fænugreek, Aniſeeds, Cumin-Seeds, Elicampain, Colts-foot, Flower of Sulphur, of each three Ounces, Juice of Liquorice one Ounce, Oil of Olives, and Hony, of each eight Ounces, Genoa Treacle twelve Ounces, Oil of Aniſeeds one Ounce; mix altogether, with a Pound and a Half of Wheat Meal, or what is ſufficient to make the whole into a Paſt, which roll into Balls as about as big as a common Waſh-Ball.

   • 1729, Thomas d'Urfey, The Comical History of Don Quixote, London: J[ohn] Darby, A. Bettesworth, F. Clay, →OCLC, pages 84–85:

     But that I know how I am perſecuted, I ſhould have ſworn this was my very Neighbour, that oft with Razor keen and lathering Waſh-ball mow'd the rough Stubble from my dented Chin, and ſnapp'd his fingers with acute Agility.

   • 1731, Henry Jones with Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 2nd edition, volume IV, London: J. and J. Knapton , →OCLC, page 199:

     That which gave me the firſt Suſpicion, that the Chalybeat Waters did not contain any rough, or vitriolic, or acid Salts in them, proceeded from an accidental Uſe of a ſtrong Iron Water, in which I diſſolv'd Soap, and found it lather and waſh my Hands well, and then I us'd a Waſhball and ſhav'd with it, and try'd ſeveral other Waters of this ſort, which did the ſame, and much better than ſome Pump-Waters.

   • 1743, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, anonymous translator, Don Quixote, 7th rev. edition, London: D. Midwinter , pages 287–288:

     [T]here came in four Damſels, […] the fourth with her Sleeves tuck'd above her Elbows, held in her Lilly-white Hand (for exceeding white it was) a large Waſh-ball of Naples-Soap. […] the Damſel that brought the Waſh-ball fell to Work, and belather'd his Beard ſo effectually, that the Suds, like huge Flakes of Snow, flew all over the paſſive Knight's face; inſomuch, that he was forc'd to ſhut his Eyes.

   • 1749, Tobias Smollett, translating Alain-René Lesage, Gil Blas, volume I, London: Thomas M'Lean , 1819, OCLC 697631796, page 163:

     I don't trouble myself with clothes, linen, and other useless baggage; but resolving to have nothing superfluous, fill my knapsack with belly-timber, my razors, and a wash-ball.

   • 1750, Francis Moore, Vox Stellarum: Or, A Loyal Almanack for the Year of Human Redemption, 1750. , London: James Bettenham, →OCLC, advertisement:

     The uncommon Succeſs above Forty Years laſt paſt of the ſo-much famed and only true Original Royal Chymical Wash Ball, For beautifying the Face, Neck and Hands, hath induced many envious Perſons, not only in every part of London, but in many Places in the Country, to ſell a counterfeit white Ball (which may prove prejudicial as well as inaffectual) in imitation of the true ones.

   • 1751, Alexander Pope, “Memoirs of P. P. Clerk of this Parish”, in The Works of Alexander Pope Esq., volume VI, London: J. and P. Knapton, →OCLC, page 245:

     [T]here paſſed among men a mercenary tale delectable enough to be rehearſed: How that being overtaken with liquor one Saturday evening, I ſhav'd the Prieſt with Spaniſh blacking for ſhoes inſtead of a waſhball, and with lampblack powdered his perriwig.

   • 1755, Jonathan Swift, “Thoughts on Various Subjects”, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D. Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, volume VI, part I, London: C. Davis , →OCLC, page 183:

     I aſked a poor man how he did? He ſaid, he was like a waſh-ball, always in decay.

   • 1777, Susanna Centlivre, The Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret, in The New English Theatre, Vol. XI, London: J. Rivington & Sons, J. Dodsley. T. Lowndes, T. Caslon, W. Nicoll, S. Bladon, &c., 1777, OCLC 723029323, Act II, page 16:

     Vio. Why, ſure you are in love Liſſardo; did not you ſay, but now, you had balls where you have been? / Liſſ. Balls, madam! Odſlife, I aſk your pardon, madam! I, I, I, had miſlaid ſome waſh-balls of my maſter's, t'other day; and becauſe I could not think where I had lain them, juſt when he aſkt for them, he very fairly broke my head, madam, and now, it ſeems, I can think of nothing elſe.

   • 1784, Pierre-Joseph Buc'hoz, The Toilet of Flora, London: J[ohn] Murray, W. Nicoll, →OCLC, pages 202–203:

     251. A Waſh-ball, an excellent Coſmetic for the Face and Hands. Take a pound of Florentine Orrice, a quarter of a pound of Storax, two ounces of Yellow Sanders, half an ounce of Cloves, as much fine Cinnamon, a Nutmeg, and twelve grains of Ambergriſe; beat the whole into very fine powder and ſift them through a lawn ſieve; all except the Ambergriſe, which is to be added afterwards.

   • 1784, Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, London: W. Strahan , page 399:

     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.

   • 1790, N[athan] Bailey with Edward Harwood, An Universal Etymological English Dictionary, 25th edition, London: J. F. and C. Rivington , →OCLC, page :

     WASH BALL, a Ball of Soap.

   • 1801, Isaac Disraeli, Romances, 2nd corr. edition, London: Murray and Highley, →OCLC, page 22:

     His baſket was nicely arranged with perfumed waſh-balls, ſweet-ſcented flowers, candied citrons, and cryſtal vials of ottar-gul.

   • 1820, James Millar, Elements of Chemistry, Edinburgh: W. & C. Tait and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, London, →OCLC, page 385:

     In preparing the common type of wash balls, a quantity of hard soap is melted and mixed with fine starch, and the usual proportions are, five parts of soap to three parts of starch.

   • 1833, Noah Webster, A Dictionary of the English Language: Abridged from the American Dictionary, 11th edition, New York, N.Y.: N. & J. White , page 499:

     Wash-ball, n. a ball of soap for cleansing.

Quotations

For more quotations using this term, see Citations:wash-ball.