Pipeclayed

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Whitened or cleaned using a white clay paste, as military belts and gaiters once were
2. Treated with a fine white clay mixture to make a surface bright and spotless
3. Covered or polished with a white clay compound to give leather or cloth a pale finish

Etymology: "Pipeclayed" is the past form of the verb "pipeclay," which means to whiten something with pipeclay, a fine white clay once used to polish leather, belts and military kit. The verb takes its name from the noun, so the history of the word is really the history of the clay. The noun is a plain compound: "pipe" in the sense of a tobacco pipe, and "clay," the fine-grained earth. Clay pipes were made from this white, soft material, and the same clay was used to whiten things, so the name carried over from the pipes to the substance itself. The compound is a straightforward descriptive coinage rather than a borrowing from another language.

Synonyms: whitened