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Webster 1913 Edition


Whetstone

Whet′stoneˊ

,
Noun.
[AS.
hwetstān
.]
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.
Shakespeare
Diligence is to the understanding as the
whetstone
to the razor.
South.
☞ 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.
[Obs.]

Webster 1828 Edition


Whetstone

WHETSTONE

,
Noun.
[whet and stone.] A stone used for sharpening edged instruments by friction.

Definition 2024


Whetstone

Whetstone

See also: whetstone

English

Proper noun

Whetstone

  1. A location in Barnet, London, England

whetstone

whetstone

See also: Whetstone

English

A whetstone being used to sharpen a knife.

Noun

whetstone (plural whetstones)

  1. A hard stone or piece of synthetically bonded hard minerals that has been formed with at least one flat surface, used to sharpen or hone an edged tool.
    • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room, Vintage Classics, paperback edition, page 88-89
      It was as if a stone were ground to dust; as if white sparks flew from a livid whetstone, which was his spine; as if the switchback railway, having swooped to the depths, fell, fell, fell.
  2. (computing) A benchmark for evaluating the power of a computer.

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