Meaning

(archaic) A ball or cake of substance used for bathing or personal cleansing, or to produce a lather for shaving; a ball of soap..

Example Sentences

[…] I don't trouble myself with clothes, linen, and other useless baggage; but resolving to have nothing superfluous, fill my knapsack with belly-timber, my razors, and a wash-ball.

Vio[lante]. Why, ſure you are in love Liſſardo; did not you ſay, but now, you had balls where you have been? / Liſſ[ardo]. Balls, madam! Odſlife, I aſk your pardon, madam! I, I, I, had miſlaid ſome waſh-balls of my maſter's, t'other day; and becauſe I could not think where I had lain them, juſt when he aſkt for them, he very fairly broke my head, madam, and now, it ſeems, I can think of nothing elſe.

Magmata, um. The dregs of ointment, waſh-balls.

My Husband is a Barbar / His Washbals are admir'd, / And I have got a Bason. / Where he Ladders whilst he's tyr'd: / Thus a Youthful Bedfellow vigorous and strong, / Has made an old Woman grow young.

Take Powder of Fænugreek, Aniſeeds, Cumin-Seeds, Elicampain, Colts-foot, Flower of Sulphur, of each three Ounces, Juice of Liquorice one Ounce, Oil of Olives, and Hony, of each eight Ounces, Genoa Treacle twelve Ounces, Oil of Aniſeeds one Ounce; mix altogether, with a Pound and a Half of Wheat Meal, or what is ſufficient to make the whole into a Paſt, which roll into Balls as about as big as a common Waſh-Ball.

But that I know how I am perſecuted, I ſhould have ſworn this was my very Neighbour, that oft with Razor keen and lathering Waſh-ball mow'd the rough Stubble from my dented Chin, and ſnapp'd his fingers with acute Agility.

That which gave me the firſt Suſpicion, that the Chalybeat Waters did not contain any rough, or vitriolic, or acid Salts in them, proceeded from an accidental Uſe of a ſtrong Iron Water, in which I diſſolv'd Soap, and found it lather and waſh my Hands well, and then I us'd a Waſhball and ſhav'd with it, and try'd ſeveral other Waters of this ſort, which did the ſame, and much better than ſome Pump-Waters.

[T]here came in four Damſels, […] the fourth with her Sleeves tuck'd above her Elbows, held in her Lilly-white Hand (for exceeding white it was) a large Waſh-ball of Naples-Soap. […] the Damſel that brought the Waſh-ball fell to Work, and belather'd his Beard ſo effectually, that the Suds, like huge Flakes of Snow, flew all over the paſſive Knight's face; inſomuch, that he was forc'd to ſhut his Eyes.

Word Forms

• wash-balls
• wash ball
• washball

Related Words

When Should You Use Wash-ball?

Use wash-ball when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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