blacking (blaking)

[Verbal n. of black, v.] 1. A preparation for blacking boots and shoes, usually made of powdered bone-black, sperm or linseed-oil, mola es, sour beer or vinegar, oil of vitriol, and copperas. Throughout the middle ages boots were worn of the brown color natural to the leather, or of a dark-red color, not unlike the modern Ru ia leather. There is mention of blacking as early as the beginning of the seventeenth century. 2. In leather - working, any one of a number of preparations used in dyeing or staining leather black.-3. The name given by founders to a black wash, composed of clay, water, and pow IMG:content-2132.png:[blocks in formation] Holland , tr. of Pliny, vi. 19.