Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A stone used in Chinese calligraphy and painting for grinding dry ink and mixing it with water.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Native copperas or iron sulphate (also called iron vitriol and, in mineralogy, melanterite), or a stone containing this substance: used in making ink.
  • noun A slab of slate, sometimes of marble or other stone, used for rubbing down the Chinese and Japanese solid ink known in Europe as India ink, usually made with a gradual slope terminating in a well at one end. Occasionally it is carved around the edge, or has a border of sculpture. See writing-box.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A kind of stone containing native vitriol or sulphate of iron, used in making ink.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A stone used by Chinese artists and calligraphers to grind dry ink and then to mix it with water.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • I work with an ink brush, ink, a special type of paper, and an inkstone.

    Family Storms 2011

  • I work with an ink brush, ink, a special type of paper, and an inkstone.

    Family Storms 2011

  • Variations on this technique produce monochromatic reliefs — witness a stunning Japanese inkstone box in which all layers are either red or black — as well as luxurious pieces such as a pair of 15th-century Chinese book covers.

    Bright and Shiny Things Lee Lawrence 2010

  • What a strange, demented feeling it gives me when I realize I have spent whole days before this inkstone, with nothing better to do, jotting down at random whatever nonsensical thoughts have entered my head.

    Archive 2006-09-01 Ann Althouse 2006

  • His disciple answered, Through my miserable clumsiness I dropped the holder of your inkstone and broke it.

    Asian-Pacific Folktales and Legends Jeannette L. Faurot 1995

  • However the pen, which contained its own reservoir of ink, was gradually adopted, replacing the brush as the first treasure and handily freeing up the next two, namely the inkstick and inkstone.

    The Way of the Exploding Pen » Japundit Blog 2005

  • The Four Treasures of Fudebakudo were originally the same as the Four Treasures of the Chinese scholar — the brush, the inkstick, the inkstone, and the paper.

    The Way of the Exploding Pen » Japundit Blog 2005

  • When I go there, I carry several candles, a pack of cigarettes, a sheaf of paper, a brush, dry ink, an inkstone and some water.

    Archive 2003-11-01 Dean Francis Alfar 2003

  • When I go there, I carry several candles, a pack of cigarettes, a sheaf of paper, a brush, dry ink, an inkstone and some water.

    notes from the peanut gallery Dean Francis Alfar 2003

  • The creature rubbed the ink with water on the inkstone, unrolled four rolls of paper, five feet long, and inscribed them with Chinese characters, nine inches long, of the most complicated kind, with firm and graceful curves of his brush, and with the ease and certainty of Giotto in turning his O.

    Unbeaten Tracks in Japan Isabella Lucy 2004

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