holystone

Meanings

1. A piece of soft sandstone used for scouring the wooden decks of ships, usually with sand and seawater.
2. A stone with a naturally-formed hole, used by Yorkshiremen for good luck.

1. To use a holystone.

Etymology

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.