[See STONE sb. 17 c and BLUE sb. 2 b; cf. POWDER-BLUE.]
1. A compound of indigo with starch or whiting, used by laundresses. Also attrib.
1675. in Abridgem. Specif. Patents, Bleaching, etc. (1859), 7. [The art] of making out of the vseless dust or powder of indigo, stone blewe, flatt indigo, and powder blewe.
1786. Act 26 Geo. III., c. 51 § 21. Great Quantities of Starch are used in the making of Stone Blue.
1836. E. Howard, R. Reefer, xxxvii. A washerwoman’s stone-blue bag.
1836–41. Brande, Chem. (ed. 5), 1091. Stone-blue is a compound of indigo or prussian blue and the inferior kinds of starch.
2. The blue color of this, or a dress of this color. (Cf. POWDER-BLUE 2.)
1906. Daily Chron., 5 Oct., 4/5. Mrs. Cyril Ward, in stone-blue.
