Definition of "whetstone"

whetstone

/ˈwɛtˌstoʊn/

noun
plural whetstones
1. A sharpening stone; a hard stone or piece of synthetically bonded hard minerals that has been formed with at least one flat surface, used to sharpen or hone an edged tool.
  Quotations
  […] for alwaies the dulneſſe of the foole, is the whetstone of the wits.
  c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii], page 186, column 2, line 192
  It was as if a stone were ground to dust; as if white sparks flew from a livid whetstone, which was his spine; as if the switchback railway, having swooped to the depths, fell, fell, fell.
  1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960,
2. (figurative) A stimulant.
3. (computing) Alternative letter-case form of Whetstone (“benchmark”)
verb
third-person singular simple present whetstones, present participle whetstoning, simple past and past participle whetstoned
1. (transitive) To sharpen with a whetstone.