steel wool

American

noun

a tangled or matted mass of stringlike steel shavings, used for scouring, polishing, smoothing, etc.

steel wool British

noun

a tangled or woven mass of fine steel fibres, used for cleaning or polishing

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of steel wool

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In the morning my face looked scrubbed, like I’d washed it with steel wool.

From Literature

Maintenance is straightforward: The pan is dishwasher safe, metal utensil-friendly and can handle steel wool.

From The Wall Street Journal

Work stubborn areas with steel wool and wipe them with a rag.

From Seattle Times

Lewis also recommends using steel wool with a grade of 0000, the finest type of wool that will not scratch surfaces.

From Seattle Times

His Jewish Cuban father owned a steel wool factory; his mother, a Jewish Romanian, narrowly survived the Holocaust when her family caught one of the last ships to Cuba.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023