Dictionary

Brillo-pad en · VERB

Etymology

A denominal from brillo pad. First use appears c. 1980. See cite below.

Meanings

1. (informal, transitive, uncommon) To clean, scrub, or scour a surface, specifically pots, pans, or metals, using a brillo pad.
   • My sinuses feel Brillo-padded by the inhaled oven cleaner. 2003, Houghton Mifflin (publisher), The Best American Nonrequired Reading, page 197:
   • What had happened was - Bridget had indeed cleaned, scrubbed and Brillo-padded the oven. There remained a layer of soap along the grates and on the side-walls. What Bridget didn't do was rinse it out! 1980, Worthy Publishing, Mother's Day Ideals Nineteen Eighty:
   • She also Brillo-padded the front pipes which were working ones until she got water down them. 1986, Incorporated Association of Organists (contributor), Organists' Review, numbers 281-292, page 51:
   • He Brillo padded the cuffs with the same enthusiasm. Not a mark. I started to pull out my wallet. 1996, Peter Legge, It Begins with a Dream, page 117:
   • Max began a painful procedure that he calls exfoliating and I call Brillo-padding my face. 2007, Jane Mendle, Better Off Famous? A Novel:
   • I was still Brillo-padding the black chunks of hash brown from the flat-top, erection fading. 1994, University of British Columbia. Department of Creative Writing (contributor), Prism International, volume 33, page 39:
   • Surely we would prefer the energies in our subtle body to be coursing freely; granted we might expect a little heat initially as psychic accretions are brillo-padded away, but we would hope to be cool in most situations, not just in a crisis or when appearing on stage with Jimmy Hendrix at Woodstock. 2011 December 6, chetan patil, “The Hands as Microcosm”, in Sahaja Meditation Colorado, USA (Usenet):
   • Carl wipes his butt with wesson oil, sand, lighter fluid, and Crisco. Then he goes out to play pool. A real slip stroke artist, that one. He brillo pads his shaft if he hasn't had a date in a month. He buys them by the case. If he was on TV they'd call him Captain Buhrillo. 1997 July 10, Carl M. Pearson, “Billiard Terms that sound dirty but aren't...”, in rec.sport.billiard (Usenet):
   • Dad was Brillo-padding a pan. "How should I know?" 2006, David Mitchell, Black Swan Green, A Novel, page 15:

Forms