blackleadv.
/ˈblaklɛd/, U.S. /ˈblækˌlɛd/ 1. transitive. To colour, rub, or polish with black lead; (also) to trace or draw in black lead. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > polishing > polish [verb (transitive)] > with specific preparation
pumicea1425
blacklead1829
heel-ball1832
beeswax1836
pumice-stone1851
ronuka1913
Simonize1917
emery-
the world > matter > colour > named colours > black or blackness > making or becoming black > make black [verb (transitive)] > with blacklead
blacklead1829
1829 J. George Cause Dry Rot Discovered x. 124 By judiciously constructing the piston and piston box, and rendering them smooth by black-leading them, the friction will be trifling.
1839 C. Brontë Let. 21 Dec. in Lett. (1995) I. 206 I am much happier—black-leading the stoves—making the beds and sweeping the floors at home.
1861 J. Pycroft Agony Point (1862) 154 The same hands that had black-leaded the grate had also been applied to her new damask satin curtains!
1909 Chatterbox 370/2 She was blackleading her bedroom grate.
1929 S. Sitwell Gothick North iv. 94 There they both were,..hewing out a capital again and blackleading it on to fibred paper!
1978 J. Rosenthal Spend, Spend, Spend in Three Award-winningTelevision Plays 154 And all I had to do was boil the washing,..blacklead the fire-grate,..and go to school.
2001 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 28 July 36 The overworked lasses that carried up the coal buckets and blackleaded the grates.
2. transitive. Printing. To brush the surface of (an electrotype mould) with graphite so as to make it electrically conductive. Now rare.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > printmaking > engraving > intaglio printing > engrave in intaglio [verb (transitive)] > brush mould with blacklead
blacklead1841
1841 A. Smee Elements Electro-metall. ii. i. 127 The white wax must be black leaded, and then placed in the solution.
1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 703/2 The mould, having been finished, has to be blackleaded... To facilitate this operation, a blackleading machine is used in large establishments.
1943 U.S. Patent 2,313,623 1/1 A sheet of synthetic thermoplastic is blackleaded, placed on the type form which is to be impressed therein, [etc.].
Derivatives
black-ˈleading n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > black or blackness > making or becoming black > [noun] > making black > with blacklead
black-leadingc1865
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > polishing > [noun] > with specific preparation
French polishing1824
pipeclaying1825
beeswaxing1876
black-leading1907
Simonizing1922
1832 Mechanics' Mag. 20 Oct. 48/1 Black-leading..has been applied with so much advantage to horological machinery.
c1865 G. Gore in J. Wylde Circle of Sci. I. 234/1 The mould may..be prepared..by blackleading.
1907 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 10 May 699/2 Heavily ornamented iron grates..which want continual blackleading to keep them in good condition.
2001 Trouble & Strife Summer 11/1 The apparently perverse nostalgia for black-leading and starching and making your own bread.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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