holystone

Word origin

Uncertain, but equivalent to holy + stone. As an amulet, probably from holey (“having a hole”). As a scouring stone, variously derived from holey, from the amulet, from its association with Sunday cleaning, from its users' adoption of a kneeling position similar to prayer, and (least likely) from their original provision by raiding graveyards for tombstones.

Used in a sentence

• “Six days shalt thou labour and do all thou art able, And on the seventh—holystone the decks and scrape the cable.”

• “Six days shalt thou labor and do all that thou art able, / And on the seventh holystone the deck and scrape the cable.”

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0