meerschaum

Noun

meerschaum (countable and uncountable, plural meerschaums)

1. (uncountable) A soft white mineral, chiefly used for smoking-pipes and cigar holders.
   • He gazed around until on the lid of a spinet he spotted a promising collection of bottles, gin, whiskey, vermouth and sherry, mixed with violin bows, a flute, a toppling pile of books, six volumes of Grove's Dictionary mingled with paperback thrillers, a guitar without any strings, a pair of...1956, Delano Ames, chapter 14, in Crime out of Mind

   Synonyms:

   sepiolite

2. (countable) A smoking-pipe made from meerschaum.
   • The sale of part of his property cleared the rest. A large portion of his income was put aside to accumulate. Horses, pictures, wines, bijouterie, German meerschaum, and Turkish hookahs, were alike brought to the hammer.1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 330
   • At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18—, I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company with my friend C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, or book-closet, au troisiême, No. 33, Rue Dunôt, Faubourg St. Germain.1831, Edgar Allan Poe, “The purloined letter”, in An edition of Poems