wash-ball Now chiefly Hist.
[f. wash v.]
A ball of soap (sometimes perfumed or medicated) used for washing the hands and face, and for shaving.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xxiv. vii. II. 184 This Mastich..is used in sope, and wash-bals. 1672 Newton in Phil. Trans. VII. 5102 Let some Water, in which a convenient quantity of Soap or wash-ball is dissolv'd, be agitated into Froth. 1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1800/4 James Norcock..sells..the true and large Bolognia Wash-balls. a 1700 Evelyn Diary (1879) May 1645, We furnish'd ourselves with wash-balls, the best being made here [Bologna]. 1714 [Blanch] Beaux Merchant i. 6 Have you brought my Riding-Whig, Mr. Barber, and your best Scented Wash-balls? 1758 Johnson Idler No. 40 ¶4, I remember a wash-ball that had a quality truly wonderful. 1805 [S. Weston] Werneria 39 Some clays are marbled, and look like wash-balls ready made. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life xx. xlii, Dropping a wash-ball out of your frozen fingers. 1842 Borrow Bible in Spain xiii, He..forthwith produced two scented wash-balls which he offered for sale. 1936 Burlington Mag. Mar. 123/2 A plain globular soap-box (called a washball box in England some fifty years earlier). 1966 T. H. Raddall Hangman's Beach ii. x. 150 And now came the grey attendant with wash⁓ball and towel, and a small wooden tub of steaming water. 1970 Canad. Antiques Collector Nov. 16/1 Out of the..cupboard came a silver plated shaving bowl and ewer, while from one small drawer appeared a pair of silver soap or wash ball boxes. 1980 E. Jong Fanny ii. xii. 280 The true Royal Chymical Wash-Ball for the beautifying of the Hands and Face. |