Turkey stone
[Turkey1.]
1. = turquoise.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 5 Mammonets are lesse than an Ape:..his stones greenish blew, like a Turkey stone. 1611 Cotgr., Couleur Turquine,..the colour of the Turkie stone. 1667–8 Pepys Diary 18 Feb., She shows me her ring of a Turky-stone, set with little sparks of dyamonds. a 1668 R. Lassels Voy. Italy (1698) II. 239 They shewed us a cup or dish..all of one Turky-stone entire. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 245 ¶2 Another [ring] of Turkey Stone. 1820 Lady Granville Lett. (1894) I. 188 A beautiful ring, a turkey stone set in gold. 1877 W. Jones Finger-ring 158 The turquoise, turkise, or turkey-stone having, from remote periods, been supposed to possess talismanic properties. |
2. A hard, fine-grained, siliceous rock imported from the Levant for whetstones; novaculite; a whetstone made of this. Also attrib.
| 1816 Cleaveland Min. 364 The Novaculite is employed in the arts under the names of hone, oil-stone, Turkey stone, and whetstone. 1840 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 421/1 A scraping tool..carefully sharpened on a Turkey stone. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. i. iii. 210 Polish..on a hone of Turkey⁓stone kept wet with water. 1875 T. Seaton Fret Cutting 3 Oil-stones are sold by weight, Turkey-stone being the dearest, and also by far the best. Ibid. 117 A Turkey-stone slip will polish them. |