alum-basket

noun

A small decorative wire basket covered in alum crystals by being dipped in a saturated solution of alum to give a sparkling effect.

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Meanings

nounalum-basket (plural alum-baskets)

plural alum-baskets

  1. A small decorative wire basket covered in alum crystals by being dipped in a saturated solution of alum to give a sparkling effect.

    There were "memorials of Margate," "a trifle from Brighton," a man and woman made of shells, divers pincushions ingeniously inserted in the same marine abodes, and an alum-basket, which looked as if it would crumble at a touch.

    1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 182
Cite this entry
APA

alum-basket. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alum-basket

MLA

“alum-basket.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alum-basket. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “alum-basket,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alum-basket.

Source: alum-basket on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.