Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A common but incorrect form of calcimine.

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

  • Same as calcimine.

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

  • noun Whitewash, an inexpensive form of white paint that is simple to compound and is used on wooden surfaces such as picket fences or park benches as well as plaster surfaces.
  • verb To apply kalsomine to a surface.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin calcis, genitive of calx ("lime")

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Examples

  • Can't you see Dulcie buying the bags of creamy kalsomine and the brushes and

    Little Miss By-The-Day Lucille Van Slyke

  • The freshness of the clean, scarcely-dried, kalsomine, the faint tinge of smoke from the bit of fire, the delicious soapy cleanliness and a wholesome whiff of barley broth floated out into the dusty hallway to the little person on the stairs.

    Little Miss By-The-Day Lucille Van Slyke

  • She feverishly grabbed a brush herself and slashed about delightedly in kalsomine.

    Little Miss By-The-Day Lucille Van Slyke

  • Miss 'Rill came and helped her clean the place and kalsomine the walls and ceiling.

    Janice Day at Poketown Helen Beecher Long

  • At the last house cleaning I had persuaded her to let me have a warm buff kalsomine on the walls instead of the brightly medallioned paper she had in mind, and a plain brown grass rug in exchange for the bright green leaves and pink flowers of the tapestry, which fitted the measure of her purse.

    Aleta Dey 1919

  • ` ` That girl with the kalsomine on her face made remarks about folks butting in.

    Jean of the Lazy A 1915

  • Great activity prevails in this household; I am moved to brush up my dear old home a little, so I have bought some kalsomine, and every minute which can be spared from getting in the hay Jim is kalsomining.

    A Woman Rice Planter 1914

  • They did allow him to kalsomine the ceilings and hang the wall paper; but they painted the floors and the lower reaches of woodwork themselves.

    Just Patty 1911

  • But let me kalsomine you a little mental sketch to consider.

    Cabbages and Kings 1904

  • He rented a nice four-room cottage there, with an icebox out on the back porch and a hammock in the front yard, and begun to paper and paint and grain and kalsomine and made good money from the start.

    Somewhere in Red Gap Harry Leon Wilson 1903

Comments

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  • "The walls and ceiling of the little hall were lined with tongue-and-groove boards that had been, mistakenly, coated with kalsomine."

    —Peter Carey, Illywhacker, 296

    April 16, 2009

  • Also calcimine. :-)

    October 23, 2009