Stōne1, n.
(20), n. [A-S. stān, O. Sax., O. Fries., & Sw. stēn, I. Ger., D., & Dan. steen, Icel. steinn, O. & N. H. Ger. stein, Goth. stains. Cf. STEAN and STEEN.] 1. A mass of concreted, earthy, or mineral matter.
☞ In popular language, very large masses of stone are called rocks; small masses are called stones; and the finer kinds, gravel, or sand, or grains of sand. Stone is of great and extensive use in the construction of buildings of all kinds, for walls, fences, piers, abutments, arches, monuments, sculpture, and the like. When we speak of the substance generally, we use stone, in the singular; as, a house or wall of stone. But when we speak of particular, separate masses, we say a stone, or stones.
- A precious stone; a gem. “Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels.” Shak.
- Something made of stone; as, (a.) A mirror. [Obs. and rare.]
Lend me a looking-glass. If that her breath will mist or stain the stone, Why then she lives. Shak.
(b.) A monument erected to preserve the memory of the dead.
Should some relentless eye Glance on the stone where our old relics lie. Pope.
- (Med.) A calculous concretion in the kidneys or bladder; the disease arising from a calculus.
- One of the testes; a testicle.
- The nut of a drupe or stone fruit; or the hard covering inclosing the kernel, and itself inclosed by the pulpy pericarp.
- A weight which legally is fourteen pounds, but in practice varies with the article weighed. [Eng.]
☞ The stone of butchers’ meat or fish is reckoned at 8 lbs.; of cheese, 16 lbs.; of hemp, 32 lbs.; of glass, 5 lbs. Simmonds. 8. Torpidness and insensibility; as, a heart of stone.
I have not yet forgot myself to stone. Pope. 9. (Print.) A stand or table, with a smooth, flat stone or marble top, on which to arrange the pages of a book, newspaper, &c., before printing;—called also imposing-stone.
☞ Stone is prefixed to some words to qualify their signification; thus, stone-dead is perfectly dead, as lifeless as a stone; stone-still, still as a stone, perfectly still; stone-blind, blind as a stone, perfectly blind.
Atlantic stone, ivory. [Obs. and rare.] “Citron table, or Atlantic stone.” Milton.—Meteoric stones, stones which fall from the atmosphere, as after the explosion of a meteor.—Philosopher’s stone, a pretended substance that was formerly supposed to have the property of turning any other substance into gold.—Rocking-stone, a large stone so balanced upon another stone, that it can be set in motion, or made to oscillate, by a light force; a logan.—To leave no stone unturned, to do every thing that can be done; to use all practicable means to effect an object.
Synonyms—See ROCK.