Kohl
Preserved but no longer current.
Also seen as: Kohol
Meaning · English
Finely powdered anti- mony, used by women in Persia and the East to blacken the inside of their eyelids. And others mix the Kohol's jetty dye To give that long, dark languish to the eye.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Kohl” mean?
Finely powdered anti- mony, used by women in Persia and the East to blacken the inside of their eyelids. And others mix the Kohol's jetty dye To give that long, dark languish to the eye.
Is “Kohl” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.