† killow Obs.
Also 7 kellow, 8 cullow.
[Of unknown origin.
Mod. dicts., into which the word has passed from Johnson, Todd, etc., repeat the suggestion of Woodward (cited by J.) that killow may be connected with collow, soot, grime; but the form is against this.]
A name formerly given (orig. in Cumberland) to black-lead, plumbago, or graphite.
| 1666 Merrett Pinax Brit. 218 Lapis cæruleus Killow dictus ducendis lineis idoneus. 1698 Plot in Phil. Trans. XX. 183 The Mineral substance, called, Black Lead..found only at Keswick in Cumberland, and there called, Wadt, or Kellow. 1706 Phillips, Killow, a sort of Mineral Stone. 1763 W. Lewis Comm. Phil. Techn. 324 The black earthy substance called Killow... The killow has somewhat of a bluish or purplish cast mixed with its blackness. |