Also 8 kohhel, 9 kochhel, kohol, cobol. [Arab. kuḥ’l, koḥ’l; see ALCOHOL.] A powder used in the East to darken the eyelids, etc., usually consisting of finely powdered antimony.
1799. W. G. Browne, Trav. Africa, etc. xxi. 318. If any thing be applied in these flussioni … it is generally kôhhel (calx of tin mixed with sheep’s fat).
1817. Moore, Lalla R., Veiled Proph., II. Others mix the Kohol’s jetty die, To give that long, dark languish to the eye.
1875. Emerson, Lett. & Soc. Aims, viii. 195. The cohol, the cosmetic by which pearls and eyebrows are indelibly stained black.
1877. Amelia B. Edwards, Up Nile, viii. 215. Their eyes were blackened round with Kohl.
attrib. 1900. H. Wallis, in 19th Cent., Feb., 319. The Louvre possesses a beautiful Kohl pot.
