Definitions

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

  • noun A long wooden stick used by painters as a support to keep the hand that holds the brush from touching the painting surface.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as mahlstick.

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

  • noun A stick used by painters as a rest for the hand while working.

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

  • noun art A short stick with a pad on one end, used by a painter to steady his hand, and to prevent it from accidentally touching the painting

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a long stick that a painter uses to support the hand holding the brush

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Partial translation of obsolete Dutch maalstok : malen, to paint (from Middle Dutch, from mal, a spot, mark) + stok, stick.]

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Examples

  • As he did so, he noted the deep scars on its muzzle and body, the dark slashes that were the mark of a maulstick applied at maximum power.

    The Chronicles of Riddick Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 2004

  • It was not improved when the box's inhabitant managed to grab the end of one maulstick, turn it around, and jab its owner in the hand.

    The Chronicles of Riddick Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 2004

  • Whirling around, she grabbed the maulstick and slammed it into him, driving the al'ready half-unconscious mass into the cell bars.

    The Chronicles of Riddick Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 2004

  • Despite taking a solid whack from the purloined maulstick, he held on long enough for his compan-ions to pile in.

    The Chronicles of Riddick Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 2004

  • The idiot who'd been jabbed by his own maulstick had only gotten what he'd deserved for his carelessness.

    The Chronicles of Riddick Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 2004

  • Making himself as large as possible, he gestured with his maulstick.

    The Chronicles of Riddick Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 2004

  • He waved his maulstick vaguely, as if in reference to the professorial practice of Munich, or to the antediluvian school of England.

    With the Procession Henry Blake Fuller 1893

  • "Let me look," she said, leaning back towards Denoisel and holding her maulstick and palette out in front of her.

    Renée Mauperin Edmond de Goncourt 1859

  • The painter took his brushes and his pallet, and his maulstick.

    Trumps George William Curtis 1858

  • "I have seen him, with my own eyes, get into a diligence for Strasbourg -- he and his trunks, and all his effects -- that is, to say, a hatbox, a maulstick, and a box of colors."

    Mysteries of Paris, V3 Eug��ne Sue 1830

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