alum-basket

English

Noun

alum-basket (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.
   • 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:

     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.