What does "sanding a doorstep" mean?
Does it mean polishing the doorstep? Or filling it in with sand?
I read this expression in Charles Dickens' book, The Haunted House where it says,
I found the landlord of the little inn sanding his doorstep.
Learn English – What does ‘sanding a doorstep’ mean
dickensliterary-englishmeaningverbs
Best Answer
It means the landlord of the little inn was scouring his doorstep, probably with sand and water as it is described as 'sanding'.
Stone floors and stone stairs are sometimes scrubbed with sand and water, sometimes with the hearth-stone, or with pipe-clay prepared after the following receipt: Boil half a pint of size [glue] with the same quantity of whiting and pipe-clay in two quarts of water; the stones must be first washed clean with water, and this mixture afterward laid smoothly on them with a flannel; when dry, they must be rubbed with a dry cloth or flannel. Stone floored kitchens and offices, stone hearths, stone steps, and balconies are usually washed with a flannel and water, and, while wet, scrubbed with the hearth-stone. Steps at the entrances of houses are washed and whitened every day in town, in the country scarcely more than once a week; stone kitchens twice a week, balconies only once. Webster's Encyclopedia of Domestic Economy, New York 1845 and later editions