maulstick
(ˈmɔːlstɪk)
Also 7 mol stick, 7–8 mostick, 8 mallstick, 9 mahlstick.
[ad. Du. maalstok, f. malen to paint + stok stick. Cf. G. malerstock (maler painter), malstab (stab = staff).]
A light stick used by painters as a support for the right hand, and held in the left. The upper end is surmounted by a ball of cotton-wool covered with soft leather.
| 1658 Phillips, A Mostick [ed. 1706 Maul-stick], a word used in painting, being a round stick about a yard long, which the Artist doth rest upon when he paints. 1672 Salmon Polygraphice 165 The Stay, or Mol-stick, is a Brazil stick (or the like) of a yard long; having [etc.]. 1855 Thackeray Charac. Sk. Wks. 1898 III. 537 When Titian dropped his mahlstick, the Emperor Charles V. picked it up. 1872 J. Hatton Vall. Poppies I. xiii. 216 In her left hand she holds a maul-stick, upon which her right arm rests. 1890 Kipling Light that failed iv, I'd let you go to the deuce on your own mahl-stick. |