Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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

         The dullness of the fools is the whetstone of the wits.
                                                  --Shak.

         Diligence is to the understanding as the whetstone to
         the razor.                               --South.

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

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

Source : WordNet®

whetstone
     n : a flat stone for sharpening edged tools or knives

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Whetstone
     
         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)