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Glite Dictionary
blackboard eraser

blackboard eraser

1.7
A soft pad used to remove chalk marks from a blackboard
  • noun
  • /ˈblækbɔrd ɪˈreɪsər/
translation icon : borrador de pizarra
  • After the class, I noticed the blackboard eraser had fallen on the floor.

Examples

  • And what can I steal there—blackboard erasers?

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The teacher used a blackboard eraser to clean the board after the lesson.

  • I reached for the blackboard eraser to wipe off the math problems I had written earlier.

Synonyms

eraser
vsblackboard eraser
  • US
22 1.0

A small rubber or plastic tool for removing pencil marks

removes chalk marks from large boards rather than small paper marks

Surface Forms

blackboard eraser singular
blackboard erasers plural

Morphology

blackboard + eraser

The meaning is directly and predictably derived from 'blackboard' (a surface for chalk writing) + 'eraser' (a tool for removing marks): it denotes an eraser used on a blackboard. This compositional, noun+noun pattern is common cross-linguistically and any minor material/shape differences (e.g. felt duster vs rubber eraser) do not prevent a B1 learner who knows the constituents from understanding the item.

Etymology

Blackboard eraser comes from school life: an eraser is a soft pad used to wipe a blackboard clean of chalk. So the name simply means 'a tool for removing chalk marks'.