▪ I. ˈfree-stone, freestone1
Also 4 fre-stane, 6 freese stone, 7 friestane, frise-stone.
[f. free a. + stone n.; a transl. of OF. franche pere, where the adj. means ‘of excellent quality’; cf. frank a.2 5.]
1. Any fine-grained sandstone or limestone that can be cut or sawn easily.
| c 1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 3036 The knyght gat masons many ane, And grat them hew ful faire fre-stane. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 37 An ymage of our lady..in an howsyng of free stoon. 1577 Harrison England ii. iii. (1877) i. 71 Houses builded..for the most part of hard freestone. 1640–1 Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 67 He hes use for certaine friestane for building. 1662 Gerbier Princ. 24 As for Free-stone, Portland Stone works well. 1773 Brydone Sicily xv. (1809) 172 The streets..are all paved with white free-stone. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 18 The alluminous ore of Whitby is sometimes a grey Freestone. 1878 F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 367 The handsome embattled tower..is chequered with flint and freestone. |
† b. A slab or piece of such stone.
Obs.| c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 768 Hec timeria, a fre⁓stone. 1626 Bacon Sylva §570 Toads have been found in the middle of a Freestone. 1712 Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) III. 412 A White Free Stone is laid over Mr. Wm. Joyner's Grave. |
2. attrib. and
Comb., as
freestone house,
† free-stone mason,
free-stone ornament,
free-stone passage,
free-stone quarry;
† freestone-coloured a., of the colour of freestone.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. iii. 25 She has..A *freestone coloured hand. |
| 1665–6 Wood Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 72 The larg *free-stone house. |
| 1703 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 211 Paid the *freestone Mason his bills in full. |
| 1726 Amherst Terræ Fil. xliv. 235 What! are there no living ornaments in Oxford? Are its inanimate, its *free⁓stone ones its greatest glory? |
| 1766 Entick London IV. 357 A *free-stone passage. |
| 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. xi. iii. I. 186 The value of a *freestone quarry..will..increase. |
▪ II. ˈfree-stone2 A variety of the peach (or nectarine) in which the flesh parts freely from the stone when ripe. Also
free-stone peach.
| 1866, 1880 [see clingstone]. 1889 Farmer Americanisms, Free-stone peach. |