1) Exclusively Saxon word 2) Exclusively Anglo word 3) Sandstone 4) Scrub with a holystone 5) To use a holystone 6) Word with Anglo-Saxon origins 7) Word of purely Anglo origin 
A chunk of sandstone used to scrub the decks. The name comes from both the kneeling position sailors adopt to scrub the deck (reminiscent of genuflection for prayer), and the stone itself (which resembled a Bible in shape and size).
A chunk of sandstone used to scrub the decks. The name comes from both the kneeling position sailors adopt to scrub the deck (reminiscent of genuflection for prayer), and the stone itself (which resembled a Bible in shape and size).
Holystone is a soft and brittle sandstone that was formerly used in the British and American Navy for scrubbing and whitening the wooden decks of ships. A variety of origins have been proposed for the term, including that such stones were taken from broken monuments of St. Nicholas Church in Great Yarmouth or else the ruined church of St. Helens a...
sandstone material used to scrape ships' decks
sandstone material used to scrape ships' decks
• (n.) A stone used by seamen for scrubbing the decks of ships. • (v. t.) To scrub with a holystone, as the deck of a vessel.
Ho'ly·stone` noun (Nautical) A stone used by seamen for scrubbing the decks of ships. Totten. Ho'ly·stone` transitive verb (Nautical) To scrub with a holystone, as the deck of a vessel. 
A chunk of sandstone used to scrub the decks. The name comes from both the kneeling position sailors adopt to scrub the deck (reminiscent of genuflection for prayer), and the stone itself (which resembled a Bible in shape and size).
[n] - a soft sandstone used for scrubbing the decks of a ship 2. [v] - scrub with a holystone, as of a ship`s deck
verb scrub with a holystone; `holystone the ship`s deck`
A piece of soft sandstone used for scouring the wooden decks of a ship.