sarsen
(ˈsɑːs(ə)n)
Also sarsden, -don, sarcen.
[App. identical with Sarsen, var. of Saracen.]
(In full sarsen-stone, sarsen boulder.) One of the numerous large boulders or blocks of sandstone found scattered on the surface of the chalk downs, esp. in Wiltshire.
| [1644: see Saracen n. 4.] a 1691 Aubrey Nat. Hist. Wilts (1847) 44 They are also (far from the rode) commonly called Sarsdens or Sarsdon stones. 1743 Stukeley Abury 16 The people call these great stones, sarsens; and 'tis a proverb here, as hard as a sarsen. 1834 Gentl. Mag. CIV. i. 174 The stones outside of the work,..as well as the five large trilithons, are all of that species of stone called Sarsen, which is found in the neighbourhood. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S. Co. 217 Yonder lies a great grey sarsen boulder. 1888 J. Prestwich Geol. II. 342 The isolated blocks called Grey-wethers or Sarsen stones, scattered on the surface of the chalk downs. |