potteryn.
/ˈpɒt(ə)ri/, U.S. /ˈpɑdəri/ 1.
a. A potter's workshop; a factory where porcelain, earthenware, etc., is manufactured.
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society > occupation and work > workplace > place where specific things are made > [noun] > pottery
pottery1480
pothouse1673
potwork1681
piggery1818
mug-house1841
bank1843
pot-bank1888
1480 Table Prouffytable Lernynge (Caxton) (1964) 6 Pottes of erthe Cannes of erthe For to goo the watre Thise thinges shall ye fynde In the potterye [Fr. en le potterye].
1702 W. Sacheverell Acct. Isle of Man 125 The new Pottery is a pretty Curiosity, set up by Mr. Smith the present Soveriegn, and his Predecessor Captain Leathes.
1780 J. Howard State Prisons Eng. & Wales (ed. 2) 156 A prison which had been a pottery.
1825 J. Bentham Rationale Reward 303 The potteries of Wedgwood and Bentley have excelled the porcelain of China.
1867 S. Smiles Huguenots Eng. & Ireland v. 115 Two potters from Antwerp..started a pottery, though in a very humble way.
1974 P. Gzowski Bk. about this Country 120/3 I'm a potter and because I was firing my kiln this morning, I wasn't able to leave the pottery until mid-afternoon.
1992 Antique Dealer & Collectors Guide Jan. 36/3 Attributing a piece to a pottery is difficult as many of the pot bank workers were migration labourers who travelled extensively in search of work.
b. In plural. With the and capital initial. The area around Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, where the English pottery industry is based.
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the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > British Isles > England > [noun] > districts of England
wealdOE
Oxon.c1439
the Stannaries1455
Midland1555
Home Counties1695
Islandshire1705
lakes1774
file1775
potteries1795
the Shires1796
Tyneside1824
lakeland1829
Lake District1835
lake country1842
Wessex1868
Shakespeare country1900
Geordieland1901
cherry country1902
1795 Times 4 Nov. 3/4 A subscription is set on foot amongst the respectable inhabitants of the potteries in Staffordshire, for erecting public granaries, with steam-engines for grinding corn, for the better and cheaper supply of that populous country.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 485 The district called ‘the Potteries’, is an extensive tract of country in the hundred of North Pyrehill and county of Stafford, comprehending an area of about eight miles long, and six broad.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1009 A population of 60,000 operatives now derives a comfortable subsistence within a district..which contains 150 kilns, and is significantly called the Potteries.
1898 H. G. Wells War of Worlds i. xi. 80 It was the strangest spectacle, that black expanse set with fire. It reminded me, more than anything else, of the Potteries seen at night.
1948 Geogr. Jrnl. 111 174 About half the county boroughs are in the seven great industrial areas, London, South and East Lancashire, the West Riding, the Black Country, the Potteries, the North East Coast and South Wales.
1987 Workbox Spring–Summer 21/3 The original is believed to have been made in Stoke on Trent..and this reproduction also comes from the Potteries.
2005 Brit. Life Jan.–Feb. 7/1 Fine bone china of this type represents the very best of the historic ceramic tradition of Stoke-on-Trent, an area that is almost better known as The Potteries.
2. The art or craft of manufacturing porcelain, earthenware, etc.; ceramics.
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society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > pottery-making or ceramics > [noun]
potter craft?c1450
pottery1601
pot-makinga1649
potting1743
ceramic1859
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxxiv. vii. 494 I shall haue fitter and better occasion to write thereof in my treatise of the art of Potterie, which the Greeks call Plastice [Fr. poterie, L. plasticen].
1712 J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northants. 73 At Stoke-Bruerne is a blue Clay, that according to good Judges, wou'd be Excellent in Pottery.
1856 Times 19 Apr. 8/2 A collection of ceramic productions, illustrating the art of pottery, from the earliest specimens of antiquity, down to the latest works of the Imperial Manufactory of Sèvres.
1891 J. F. Nisbet Insanity of Genius 236 Pottery, when he [sc. Wedgwood] took it up, was a rude and barbarous manufacture; he raised it to the dignity of an art.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 441/2 The Ainu, on the contrary, never had any knowledge of pottery.
1943 Elem. School Jrnl. 44 69 Workshop facilities have been developed in order that..work may be carried on by teachers in various types of art, pottery, and handwork.
2004 Central Coast Express (Austral.) (Nexis) 1 Sept. Community members also pitched in to help the sports clubs by giving craft demonstrations in woodturning, silk painting, art, pottery and ceramics.
3. As a mass noun: pots, dishes, and other articles made of fired clay; pottery-ware, ceramics. Formerly also as a count noun: †a piece of this (obsolete).In technical and professional use pottery is divided into earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain (see those words), but in ordinary use the term is now often applied only to articles of earthenware, stoneware, etc., produced by traditional methods and having (relatively) low firing temperatures, as opposed to translucent, vitrified, frequently mass-produced ceramics like porcelain and china.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > clay compositions > baked clay > pottery or ceramics > [noun]
clay-work1612
earthenwarea1624
pottery ware1633
pot-ware1661
earthware1713
ware1741
pottery1771
vitrefacture1841
ceramic1880
briquetage1902
1771 J. Keir tr. P. J. Macquer Dict. Chem. II. 565 We shall not describe the operation of making pottery, because we have already spoken of it under the articles Delf-ware and Porcelain, from which the common ware only differs, with regard to its manufacture, in its greater simplicity.
1785 J. Phillips Treat. Inland Navigation 21 Norwich goods, groceries, potteries, and other merchandise.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 484 The drab pottery is useful for articles which require strength to be united to ornament, as flower-pots, water-jugs, &c.
1863 C. Lyell Geol. Evid. Antiq. Man ii. 10 The pottery found associated with weapons of bronze is of a more ornamental and tasteful style than any which belongs to the age of stone.
1888 M. E. Braddon Fatal Three I. v. 104 The shallow milk-pans were of Doulton pottery.
1925 W. Cather Professor's House ii. v. 220 I have seen a collection of early pottery from the island of Crete.
1965 B. Ross Mexico i. 21 They asked him where he had obtained the cloth and the pottery?
2002 J. Cartwright White Lightning xx. 177 The shop..sells African art, pots, beads, and masks,..as well as some local pottery.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
pottery kiln n.
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1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 821 The apparatus then resembles certain pottery kilns.
1876 D. Dennett Louisiana as it Is 65 An old Indian pottery kiln was found not far off, with some whole pots in it.
1980 Antiquaries Jrnl. 60 8 Six Romano-British pottery kilns were examined.
2005 Evening Chron. (Newcastle) (Nexis) 23 Sept. 16 Firefighters were called to a Tyneside primary school after a pottery kiln overheated.
pottery manufacture n.
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1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. iii. §56. 202 Witness..the absorption by Staffordshire of the pottery-manufacture.
1880 Atlantic Monthly Jan. 135/2 It marks an era in pottery manufacture, whose results are the development of a new style of decoration.
1993 Antique Dealer Aug. 30/1 Few makers in England successfuly combined porcelain and pottery manufacture, but Minton kept making both.
pottery market n.
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1853 W. J. Hickie tr. Aristophanes Lysistrata in Comedies II. 416 In the pottery-market, and in the vegetable-market alike, they walk about..with arms.
1935 Times 8 June 11/6 Britain now holds 85 per cent. of the New Zealand pottery market.
2004 Peterborough Evening Telegraph (Nexis) 12 Aug. Crowds of shoppers crammed into the pottery market..to look at the ornate china.
pottery painter n.
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1876 ‘Ouida’ In Winter City iii What pleasant lives these pottery painters of the early days must have led.
1999 Independent (Nexis) 15 Mar. 7 Machin..was born in 1911 in Trent Vale to a family of potters..and seemed destined to remain a pottery painter until the slump in the pottery industry in North Staffordshire in 1929-30.
pottery trade n.
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1718 J. Tourefort de Pitton Voy. into Levant I. 312 The Samians were the first Inventors of the Pottery-Trade.
1863 Times 14 Dec. 9/2 The committee assert that the half-time system of the Factory Acts is for several reasons unadapted to the pottery trade.
2003 Lancs. Life Mar. 50/2 Tooth..stopped off at Stoke-in-Trent to pick up a few pointers about the pottery trade.
pottery ware n.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > clay compositions > baked clay > pottery or ceramics > [noun]
clay-work1612
earthenwarea1624
pottery ware1633
pot-ware1661
earthware1713
ware1741
pottery1771
vitrefacture1841
ceramic1880
briquetage1902
1633 Will of Thomas Wadsworth in Long Buckby Wills 1558–1688 6 d for pottery wares 1s 6d for all other implements.
1771 J. Keir tr. P. J. Macquer Dict. Chem. I. 375 [Lead] makes the basis of the glazing of almost all pottery wares from the most ordinary kind to the finest.
1861 Amer. Agriculturist July 212/3 The others are of terra cotta, and may be bought at most manufacturies of pottery ware.
1990 P. Allardice Myth, Gods & Fantasy: Sourcebk. (BNC) An ancient Celtic god who features on coins and pottery ware.
C2. † pottery bark n. Obsolete rare the bark of a pottery tree, which can be mixed with clay to make heat-resistant pottery.† pottery-bark tree n. Obsolete rare = pottery tree n.† Pottery coal n. Obsolete rare coal from the Pottery Coalfield; Staffordshire coal.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > plants used in paper, glass, or pottery manufacture > [noun] > pottery tree or bark
pottery bark1866
pottery tree1866
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > bark > [noun] > other bark
basteOE
bass1676
bonace bark1756
paperbarkc1837
stringy-bark1848
pottery bark1866
Adansonia1887
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 679/2 Several undetermined species of this genus [Licania] afford the Pottery bark, the ashes of which are used by the natives of the Amazon for mixing with the clay employed in the manufacture of pottery-ware, in order to enable the vessels to withstand the action of fire.
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1890 Cent. Dict. at Licania L. Guianensis is called Cayenne rose and Cayenne sassafras, pepperwood, and pottery-bark tree, names indicating its character and uses.
pottery clay n. = pot clay n. at pot n.1 Compounds 2.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > clay > [noun] > suitable for pottery
eartha1350
pot earth?a1450
slip1640
blue clay1698
figuline1859
pottery clay1869
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > clay > [noun] > for making pottery
eartha1350
potter's clay?a1425
potter's earth1440
pot earth?a1450
argil1530
pot clay1674
throwing clay1686
figuline1859
pottery clay1869
1869 R. F. Burton Explor. Highlands Brazil II. 305 The water froths against pure pottery-clay.
1921 Geol. S. Wales Coalfield (Mem. Geol. Surv. XIII) xii. 169 The isolated Bovey Tracey Beds of Devon, consisting in part of pottery clays..are supposed to have been laid down in a small, local lake-basin.
1962 W. Stegner Wolf Willow iv. ii. 250 Floods of settlers..all figured in the dream, as did..oil, pottery clay, glass sand, and other..resources.
2001 P. Ball Bright Earth iii. 64 The Babylonians made lead glazes simply by grinding the mineral galena (lead sulphide) to a fine dust and painting it on to the pottery clay.
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society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > coal or types of coal > [noun]
coal1253
sea-coal1253
pit-coal1483
cannel1541
earth coala1552
horse coal1552
Newcastle coal1552
stone-coal1585
cannel coal1587
parrot1594
burn-coal1597
lithanthrax1612
stony coal1617
Welsh coala1618
land-coala1661
foot coal1665
peacock coal1686
rough coal1686
white coal1686
heathen-coalc1697
coal-stone1708
round1708
stone-coal1708
bench-coal1712
slipper coal1712
black coal1713
culm1742
rock coal1750
board coal1761
Bovey coal1761
house coal1784
mineral coal1785
splint1789
splint coal1789
jet coal1794
anthracite1797
wood-coal1799
blind-coal1802
black diamond1803
silk-coal1803
glance-coal1805
lignite1808
Welsh stone-coal1808
soft1811
spout coals1821
spouter1821
Wallsend1821
brown coal1833
paper coal1833
steam-coal1850
peat-coal1851
cherry-coal1853
household1854
sinter coal1854
oil coal1856
raker1857
Kilkenny coal1861
Pottery coal1867
silkstone1867
block coal1871
admiralty1877
rattlejack1877
bunker1883
fusain1883
smitham1883
bunker coal1885
triping1886
trolley coal1890
kibble1891
sea-borne1892
jet1893
steam1897
sack coal1898
Welsh1898
navigation coal1900
Coalite1906
clarain1919
durain1919
vitrain1919
single1921
kolm1930
hards1956
1867 W. W. Smyth Treat. Coal & Coal-mining 58 Pottery coals and ironstone measures..with 8 to 13 seams of coal of above two feet thick..and 10 to 12 measures of ironstone.
Pottery Coalfield n. the coalfield around the Potteries in Staffordshire.
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the world > the earth > minerals > mineral sources > [noun] > tract of land > specific
Gold Coast1625
Pottery Coalfield1811
rand1839
golden mile1899
reef1903
1811 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 101 250 The triangular tract..to the westward.., forming the pottery coal-field, is much less raised.
1851 G. F. Richardson Introd. Geol. (1855) 435 The Coal-fields of England and Wales... 3. North Staffordshire sometimes called the Pottery coal-field.
1915 Geogr. Jrnl. 46 131 The radial system of folding which affects the Pottery Coalfield and neighbouring tracts of lower Carboniferous rocks comes to an apex within the area.
pottery gauge n. now rare a device used to shape and regulate the size of an article being manufactured on a potter's wheel.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > pottery manufacturing equipment > [noun] > shaper
pottery gauge1875
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1779/2 Pottery-gage, a shaper or templet for the inside of a vessel on the wheel.
pottery mould n. (also pottery mold) (a) a mould used to shape pottery; (b) English regional (northern) a shaped ‘brick’ of soft stone mixed with pipeclay, used for whitening hearths, etc.; a hearthstone (now rare); (c) a mould made of pottery.
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1857 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) I. 358/2 It [sc. gypsum] is also used for stereotype and pottery moulds, and for medals and casts of various kinds.
1924 J. H. Wilkinson Leeds Dial. Gloss. 170/1 The rag-and-bone man..would add ‘pottery-mouls [sic], weight for weight’, meaning he would exchange pottery moulds for the same weight of rags.
1937 Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press 6 May 13 (advt.) Oven ware pottery molds for chilled desserts, delicious custards, gelatine and tasty salads.
1987 Los Angeles Times (Electronic ed.) 19 July (Travel section) 7 Antique pottery molds and other items used in manufacturing the porcelain are also exhibited.
1998 Early Amer. Homes 82/2 Sugar cones were originally packed into tall, conical pottery molds, but you can get the same effect from a pilsner glass.
pottery oven n. (a) an oven used for firing pottery, a pottery kiln; (b) a cooking oven made of pottery.
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1792 J. Byng Diary 28 June in C. B. Andrews Torrington Diaries (1936) III. 127 Here I cross'd the Trent; and soon, many branches of navigation. These intersecting canals, with the passing boats.., the population, the pottery ovens..remind me of a Chinese picture.
1868 Sci. Amer. 11 Jan. 30/1 I claim a steam-pipe, in combination with a ‘fire-mouth’, for heating pottery ovens, kilns, and for other like ovens.
1906 Times 4 July 14/6 The dozens of sacrificial fires in pottery ovens for the roasting of the lambs..may still be traced.
1986 A. R. David Pyramid Builders of Anc. Egypt (1996) iii. 67 At the back of the house, a kitchen was situated,..with storage bins, a small brick or pottery oven in which to bake bread, an open hearth [etc.].
2004 T. Hemion Inspector Morimoto & Two Umbrellas xi. 68 Morimoto could see the brown, brick pottery ovens located throughout the village, which produced a distinctive pottery.
pottery tissue n. tissue paper on which engravings of impressions are stored prior to their transfer on to porcelain or earthenware items.
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1853 A. Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) II. 452 A sheet of paper of the necessary size and of a peculiarly thin texture, called ‘pottery tissue,’ after being saturated with a thin solution of soap and water, is placed upon the copper plate.
a1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. II. 1780/2 Pottery-tissue, a kind of tissue-paper used to receive impressions of engravings for transference to biscuit.
1996 Wheeling (West Virginia) News-Register (Nexis) 18 Aug. e1 The worker scraped off the excess ink, placed pottery tissue on top of the plate and ‘rubbed it good and hard’ so the design would transfer onto the paper.
pottery tree n. now rare any of several South American trees of the genus Licania (family Chrysobalanaceae), the bark of which is used in making heat-resistant earthenware, esp. Licania octandra (cf. pottery bark n.).
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > plants used in paper, glass, or pottery manufacture > [noun] > pottery tree or bark
pottery bark1866
pottery tree1866
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 679/2 at Licania The Indians call these trees Caraipe, but botanists have adopted that name for a genus of Ternströmiaceæ, owing to the Pottery tree having at one time been supposed to belong to that order.
1872 Amer. Naturalist 6 186 The ashes of the bark of the Pottery Tree of Para, whose cells are shown by the microscope to be silicated, is mixed with clay by the Indians, and made into a kind of earthenware which is very useful and durable.
1951 Dict. Gardening (Royal Hort. Soc.) III. 1318/2 The natives..grind up the bark of M. utilis (Caraipi or Pottery Tree) to mix with an equal quantity of clay and make therewith domestic pottery capable of withstanding great heat.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1480