black lead, black-ˈlead, ˈblacklead, n.
† 1. A black ore of lead. Obs.
2. The ordinary name of the mineral called also plumbago or graphite; a substance of greyish-black colour and metallic lustre, consisting of almost pure carbon with a slight admixture of iron; it is chiefly used (made into pencils) for drawing and writing, and for giving a black metallic polish to iron-work. (The name dates back to days before the real composition of the substance was known.)
| 1583 Plat Divers New Exp. (1594) 39 Some..draw thereon with blacke lead. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 767 That minerall kind of earth or hardned glittering stone (we cal it Black-lead). 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. 47 Note them with a pensil of black lead. 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. ii. Lead, Of late it [black lead] is curiously formed into cases of deal or cedar, and so sold as dry pencils. 1732 De Foe, etc. Tour Gt. Brit. (1769) III. 320 The Black-lead is found in heavy Lumps, some of which are hard, gritty, and of small Value, others soft and of a fine Texture. 1866 Ruskin Eth. Dust. 18 There is a little iron mixed with our black lead. |
b. This substance in the form of a pencil.
| 1656 W. Dugard Gate Lat. Unl. §725. 225 Have with you alwayes a table-book (or black-lead and paper). 1832 Carlyle in Fraser's Mag. V. 390 Boswell is there with ass-skin and black-lead to note thy jargon. |
c. Writing done with a black-lead pencil.
| 1667 Pepys (1877) V. 276 Having done it without looking on my paper, I find I could not read the black-lead. |
d. A preparation of inferior quality for domestic use in polishing grates and other cast-iron utensils.
| a 1849 Chambers Inform. People II. 788/2 Stove-grates are cleaned with black-lead mixed with turpentine. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. (ˈblack-lead), as
black-lead pen,
black lead pencil,
black lead study, etc.;
† black-lead comb, a comb used to darken the hair.
| 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. ix. §3 (1669) 145 He could not bear the sight of his own grey hairs, and therefore used a *black-lead-comb to discolour them. |
| 1716 Swift Progr. Beauty Wks. 1755 III. ii. 166 To think of *black-lead combs is vain. |
| 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. 247 Being noted with a line with a *blacklead pen. |
| 1687 M. Clifford Notes Dryden ii. 5, I..put up my *Black Lead Pen. |
| 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 36 With a *Black-lead Pencil, draw a line from that Mark to the second Mark. |
| 1790 Boswell Johnson (1831) I. 162 He had marked the passages with a *black-lead pencil. |
| 1813 Examiner 17 May 311/2 S. Terry..*black-lead-maker. |
| 1862 Thornbury Turner I. 87 His..*blacklead studies of trees. |