whetstone

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Whetstone \Whet"stone`\, n. [AS. hwetst[=a]n.]
   A piece of stone, natural or artificial, used for whetting,
   or sharpening, edge tools.
   [1913 Webster]

         The dullness of the fools is the whetstone of the wits.
                                                  --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]

         Diligence is to the understanding as the whetstone to
         the razor.                               --South.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: Some whetstones are used dry, others are moistened with
         water, or lubricated with oil.
         [1913 Webster]

   {To give the whetstone}, to give a premium for extravagance
      in falsehood. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

Whetstone

   <benchmark> The first major {synthetic benchmark} program,
   intended to be representative for numerical ({floating-point}
   intensive) programming.  It is based on statistics gathered by
   Brian Wichmann at the {National Physical Laboratory} in
   England, using an {Algol 60} {compiler} which translated Algol
   into instructions for the imaginary Whetstone machine.  The
   compilation system was named after the small town of Whetstone
   outside the City of Leicester, England, where it was designed.

   The later {dhrystone} benchmark was a pun on Whetstone.

   Source code: C
   (ftp://netlib.att.com/netlib/benchmark/whetstonec.Z), single
   precision Fortran
   (ftp://netlib.att.com:/netlib/benchmark/whetstones.Z),
   double precision Fortran
   (ftp://netlib.att.com:/netlib/benchmark/whetstoned.Z).

   ["A Synthetic Benchmark", H.J. Curnow and B.A. Wichmann, The
   Computer Journal, 19,1 (1976), pp. 43-49].

   (1994-11-14)

from U.S. Gazetteer (1990)

Whetstone, AZ (CDP, FIPS 82155)
  Location: 31.70171 N, 110.34075 W
  Population (1990): 1289 (593 housing units)
  Area: 32.6 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

from U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000)

Whetstone, AZ -- U.S. Census Designated Place in Arizona
   Population (2000):    2354
   Housing Units (2000): 1056
   Land area (2000):     11.801071 sq. miles (30.564633 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    11.801071 sq. miles (30.564633 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            82155
   Located within:       Arizona (AZ), FIPS 04
   Location:             31.703917 N, 110.347996 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):    
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Whetstone, AZ
    Whetstone