stone

▪ I. stone, n.
    (stəʊn)
    Forms: 1–3 (4–5 Sc. and north.) stan, 3 stæn, 3–5 ston, 4–5 sten, 4–6 stoon (5–6 stoone), 4–9 (Sc. and north.) stane, 5 Sc. stayne, (stein), 5– 7 stonne, 6 stoan(e, steane, 6–7 Sc. stain(e, 7 Sc., 8–9 dial. stean, 4– stone.
    [Common Teut.: OE. stán str. masc. corresponds to OFris. stên, (WFris. stên, stien, NFris. stîn, stîæn), OS. stên (LG., Du. steen), OHG. (MHG., mod.G.) stein, ON. stein-n (Sw., Da. sten), Goth. stain-s:—OTeut. *staino-z, cogn. w. OSl. stêna (Russ. stena) wall, and Gr. στία, στῖον pebble.]
    1. a. A piece of rock or hard mineral substance (other than metal) of a small or moderate size.

c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxiv. §xi, Ᵹif þu þonne ænne stan toclifst, ne wyrð he næfre ᵹegadrod swa he ær wæs. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 9 Me þe sculde nimen and..þe al to-toruion mid stane. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1604 He lay bi luzan ut on niȝt, A ston under hise heued riȝt. a 1310 Cursor M. 7581 He tok fiue stans rond. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1805 A stoon no thyng ne felith. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 80 The sticks and the stones go and gather vp cleene. 1686 W. Harris tr. Lemery's Course Chem. 214 There have been who gazing too earnestly upon the Stars above, have not perceived the stone at their feet, that caused them to stumble. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mariner 17 The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone. 1812–16 Playfair Nat. Phil. (1819) I. 323 The Stones which have..been ascertained..to fall down from the air. 1833 Penny Cycl. I. 150/1 Aerolites, called also Meteoric Stones. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 64 A dog who..quarrels with the stones which are thrown at him.

    † b. A rock, cliff, crag; a mass of rock; rocky ground. Obs.

c 825 Vesp. Psalter xxvi. 6 [xxvii. 5] In stane upahof mec. c 1000 Rule St. Benet (1888) 5 Hit ne feoll forþam þe hit wæs ᵹestaðelod ofor þam stane. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 155 Sum of þe sed ful uppe þe ston and dride þere. a 1300 Cursor M. 16762 + 83 þe son wex merke, þe erth quoke, Þe stons clef. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 4133 Lest thei.. breke her schippus on cragges and stones. c 1430 Prymer (1895) 65 He ordeyned my feet on a stoon. 1513 Douglas æneis ix. vii. 174 Quhil the famyl and ofspring of Enee The stane immovable of the Capitolie Inhabitis. a 1700 Evelyn Diary Apr. 1646, Some of these vast mountaines were but one entire stone.

fig. a 1220 Vices & Virtues (1888) 27 And uppe þese stane ðe ðu hier hafst ȝenamd, Crist, godes sune, ich wille araren mine cherche. c 1400 Rule St. Benet 189 Þis stone es crist, þat we on call. 1535 Coverdale Deut. xxxii. 4 Perfecte are the workes of the Stone for all his wayes are righteous.

    c. A meteorite; now esp. one containing a high proportion of silicates or other non-metals.

1628 J. Hoskins Let. in N. Wallington Hist. Notices (1869) I. i. 14 As it is reported, there fell divers stones, but two is certain, in our knowledge. 1796 Gentleman's Mag. LXVI. 845/1 Various instances are alleged of such falling stones, or, as they may be denominated, extinguished meteors. 1802 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. XCII. 212 Have not all fallen stones, and what are called native irons, the same origin?.. Are all, or any, the produce or the bodies of meteors? 1809 Jrnl. Nat. Philos. XXIII. 233 Account of a meteoric stone..that fell in the circle of Ichnow. Ibid., Several persons..got out the stone, which was above two feet beneath the surface of the snow... A professor of natural philosophy..considered it..as ferruginous. 1826, etc. [see iron n.1 1 d]. 1977 A. Hallam Planet Earth 24 Freshly fallen stones are usually quite cool to the touch.

    d. A fashion shade of yellowish or brownish grey; stone-colour. Also attrib. or as adj. Cf. sense 19.

1848 E. Ruskin Let. 10 May in W. James Order of Release (1947) v. 107 A stone silk dress with two broad flounces. 1865 M. Eyre Lady's Walks in South of France i. 10 The colours most in vogue are some shade of grey, stone, or buff. 1890 [see box-cloth s.v. box n.2 24]. 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 157/2 Paints mixed ready for use... White, light stone, dark stone, middle stone, black. 1923 Daily Mail 2 June 1 In delightful shades of Fawn,..Dove Grey, Stone, Beaver. 1977 Times 18 Aug. 23/6 Rover 3·5 litre..blue with stone leather interior.

    2. a. The hard compact material of which stones and rocks consist; hard mineral substance other than metal.

1154 O.E. Chron. (Canterb. MS.) an. 1020, Se cyng..let timbrian ðar an mynster of stane & lime. c 1200 Ormin 4129 Þatt cnif wass..Off stan, & nohht off irenn. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 266 Maumez of treo oðer of stan. 13.. K. Horn 905 (Harl.) A chirche of lym & ston. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 70 The god of slepe..That dwelleth in a cave of stoon. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) i. 4 A brigg of stane þat es ouer þe ryuer. 1542 Boorde Dyetary viii. (1870) 249 Stand nor syt long bareheed vnder a vawte of stone. 1590 in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., Var. Coll. IV. 284 Perceiving as well muche sand as stone..fetched from the sea-side. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 229 Mount Sinai..whose top..is hard stone of yron colour. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. I. 27 We find layers of stone often over the lightest soils. 1826 Art of Brewing (ed. 2) 193 In Gloucestershire, and other parts of England, where stone is abundant. 1869 Lowell Cathedral 283 Imagination's very self in stone!

    b. as material for lithography.

c 1806 in Archæol. Jrnl. (1894) Ser. ii. I. 111 The art of printing from stone called Polyautography. 1838 W. C. Harris Narr. Exped. S. Africa frontisp., Moselekatse, King of the Amazooloo. On Stone by W. C. Harris. 1864 Scott. Metr. Psalter of 1635 title-p., Printed from stone, by Maclure and Macdonald, Lithographers to the Queen.

    c. A particular kind of rock or hard mineral matter.

c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 87 Of propertez of stones, and of vertuz of herbes. 1480 Caxton Mirr. World 92 In Archade is a stone whiche in no wyse may be quenchyd after it is sette a fire. 15.. in Dunbar's Poems (1893) II. 306 He knew the vertew of erb and stone. 1731 Historia Lit. III. 353 Semitransparent Stones, as Agat. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 2 Stones differ from earths principally in cohesion and hardness. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 154 Many stones contain silex. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 173/2 The material is a white calcareous stone, obtained in the neighbourhood.

    d. spec. = philosophers' stone.

1390 Gower Conf. II. 88 This Ston..makth multiplicacioun Of gold. 1450 Lydg. Secrees 986 Al worldly tresour breeffly shet in Oon, Is declaryd in vertu of this stoon. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. Argt. 11. 1822 Byron Werner iii. i. 328 Thou more than stone of the philosopher!

    e. = stoneware. Chiefly attrib.: see 17 b.

1642 Rates of Merchandizes 57 Whistles, cocks or Birds of stone. 1851 [see stone-fruit 2].

    † f. A mirror. Obs. rare^—1. Cf. specular stone, specular a. 1, 1 b.

1605 Shakes. Lear v. iii. 262 Lend me a Looking-glasse, If that her breath will mist or staine the stone, Why then she liues.

    g. artificial stone (see quot. 1967).

1722 Brit. Pat. 447 Thomas Ripley..and Richard Holt..have been at much labour..for the finding out and inventing ‘A certain compound liquid metall never before known and used by the Antients or Moderns, by which artificiall stone and marble is made.’ c 1778 [see lithodipyra]. 1868 Building News 10 Apr. 248/2 (heading) Ransome's artificial stone. Ibid. 3 July 448/2 A method of manufacturing artificial granite..has just been patented by Mr. P. M. Parsons. 1935 Economist 9 Feb. 321/1 The two trades..which represent the largest consumers of cement are ‘public works contracting, etc.’, and ‘artificial stone and concrete manufacturing’. 1935 [see reconstructed ppl. a. a]. 1967 Gloss. Highway Engin. Terms (B.S.I.) 37 Artificial stone, a form of precast concrete in which the finished surface resembles that of natural stone.

    3. a. As a type of motionlessness or fixity; esp. in phr. (as) still as a stone. ? Obs. (Cf. stone-still.)

a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1253 Þ{supt} nan ne seide na wiht, ah seten stille ase stan. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 102 He lay stille as eny ston. 1535 Coverdale Exod. xv. 16 Let feare and drede fall vpon them..that they maye be as styll as a stone. 1657 Fuller Serm., Best Employm. 12 Sit not there as a stone upon a stoole.

    † b. As an emblem of stability or constancy; in phr. sad, stable, steadfast, true as stone. Obs.

c 1320 Sir Tristr. 115 Rohand, trewe so stan. c 1425 Hampole's Psalter Metr. Pref. 46 Euery word is sad as stone and sothly sayd, ful sykerly. c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. iv. 1251 He hath made hir hardy and stable as þe stoone. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 22, I wyl be as stedfast as any stone.

    c. As a type of hardness, and hence as an emblem of insensibility, stupidity, deadness or the like; esp. in phrases of comparison with various adjs. as blind, cold, dead, deaf, dumb, hard, etc. (Cf. 19.)

a 1300 Cursor M. 12028 He fel dun ded as ston. 13.. Seuyn Sages (W.) 2359 He bicam blind so ston. c 1400 Rom. Rose 2409 Dom as a stoon. c 1400 Pety Job 318 in 26 Pol. Poems 131 Me thynketh myn hert ys harder than a ston. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xv. 9 He that dronis ay as ane bee Sowld haif ane heirar dull as stane. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. iii. 26 All was cold as any stone. 1601 ― All's Well ii. i. 76 A medicine..able to breath life into a stone. 1791 Hampson Mem. Wesley II. 133 The man continued as blind as a stone. 1837 P. Keith Bot. Lex. 116 The albumen..in the seed of the coffee plant..is horny, and in that of the Date-palm it is said to be as hard as a stone. 1841 Hood Tale Trumpet 42 She was deaf as a stone.

    4. transf. and fig. Something resembling stone or a stone: a. in physical sense: A hard concretion.

1893 Baring-Gould Cheap Jack Zita III. 119 The frost had set in..and..the Lark was turned to stone within its embankments.

    b. in figurative sense, chiefly as the supposed substance of a ‘hard’ heart; also, a ‘hard’ or unfeeling person, or heart; † also, a stupid person, blockhead; a silent person.

1388 Wyclif Ezek. xxxvi. 26 Y schal do awei an herte of stoon [1382 a stonen herte] fro ȝoure fleisch. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 618/266 Þe Iewes weoren harde stones. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxv. 40 Ȝour mvsing wald perss ane hairt of stane. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. iii. 11 He is a stone, a very pibble stone, and has no more pitty in him then a dogge. 1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence, Heautontim. v. i, Signes..whereby I might haue perceiued it, had not I beene a very stone [ni essem lapis]. 1612 Two Noble K. i. i. 140 Your sorrow beates so ardently upon me, That it shall make a counter reflect gainst My Brothers heart, and warme it to some pitty, Though it were made of stone. a 1659 T. Pestel Psalm for Christmas Day Morning, Joyn then all hearts that are not stone,..To celebrate this holy One. 1746 Hervey Medit. (1818) 147 The heart of stone is taken away, and a heart of flesh..is introduced in its stead. a 1771 Gray Dante 54 Nor wept, for all Within was Stone. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xiv, Tom Smart said the widow's lamentations when she heard the disclosure would have pierced a heart of stone. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxiv, He..said he should come back; but it didn't deceive me, I knew that the time had come. I was just like one turned into stone.

    5. A piece of stone of a definite form and size (usually artificially shaped), used for some special purpose. (Often as the second element of a compound: cf. definitions below.) a. for building, or as a part or element of a building. (See also coping-stone, corner-stone, foundation-stone, etc.)

c 825 Vesp. Psalter ci. 15 [cii. 14] Forðon welᵹelicad hefdun ðeowas ðine stanas his. c 1200 Ormin 16285 Swa þeᵹᵹ stodenn..To wirkenn o þe temmple, Þatt draᵹhenn swerd wass inn an hannd, & lim & stan inn oþerr. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 3374 Noble Troye..A-doun is throwen, with ston an[d] wal. 1427 in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 4 In here tyme..was the furste stoon leyd of the Groceres place in Conyhoope-lane. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 28 A Mason can nocht hew ane evin aislair staine without directioun of his rewill. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. i. 104 Looke backe with me vnto the Tower. Pitty, you ancient Stones, those tender Babes, Whom Enuie hath immur'd within your Walls. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 696 With the stones hewed out of it..Sant Peters at Yorke was reedified. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Study Nat. (1799) II. 132 Water..diffused.. through the air..attaches itself, to the glass-windows and the polished stones of our houses. 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §79 To build all the foundations..with stones properly headed. 1867 H. Macmillan Bible Teach. xii. (1870) 232 It is built up, stone by stone, from the level of the earth.

    b. for paving.
    (See also hearthstone, paving-stone, etc.)

1427–8 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 68 Also for a goter ston for þe same gate, xiiij d. 1612 Two Noble K. v. iv. 68 On this horse is Arcite Trotting the stones of Athens. 1682 Lond. Gaz. No. 1694/4 An Iron Grey Gelding,..a little tender-footed on the Stones. 1738 Gentl. Mag. VIII. 549/1 He was driven over the Stones in a Hackney Coach. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xix, Horses clattered on the uneven stones. 1841 [see pauper 1 c]. 1851 Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Wind. i. 601 On the stone Called Dante's,—a plain flat stone, scarce discerned From others in the pavement.

    c. A block, slab, or pillar of stone set up as a memorial, to impart information, or for some ceremonial purpose: e.g. as an altar, a monument, a boundary-mark, etc.
    See also hoar-stone 2, milestone, shire-stone, standing stone.

847 Charter in O.E. Texts 434 On ðone stan æt ðære flodan. c 1205 Lay. 9959 He lette a-ræren anan enne swuðe sælcuð stan: he lette þer on grauen sælcuðe run-stauen hu he Rodric of-sloh. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 158 Evene vp riȝht & swiþe heiȝ, þat wonder hit is to se, Þe stones stondeþ þere so grete. a 1300 Cursor M. 979 Ȝee sal do bren it on a stan. 1450–80 tr. Secreta Secret. lviii. 33 It was founde writen in a stone of þe tunge of Caldee. c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 121 The croune he tuk apon that sammyne stane At Gadalos send with his sone fra Spane. 1581 Cov. Leet Bk. 822, & so Crosse ouer to the corner of Babethorp-wast vnto another stone there sett. 1598–1603 Stow Surv. (1908) I. 224 On the south side of this high streete..is pitched vpright a great stone called London stone. 1716 Addison Freeholder No. 18 ¶5 As ridiculously puzzled..as a man that counts the stones on Salisbury-plain, which can never be settled to any certain number. 1827 G. Higgins Celtic Druids 212 Some of these stones-erect have crosses cut upon them. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. xx, The troth I had plighted to Hereward at the stone of Odin.

    d. spec. = gravestone 2, tombstone.

13.. Cursor M. 193 (Gött.) Lazar þat ded lay vnder stan. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 8780 Lordes are besy aboute to haue Proude stones lyggyng an hye on here graue. 1436 E.E. Wills 105, I woll þat there be leyde vpon my body a stone of Marble. a 1585 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 567 Than sall be graud vpon the stane Quhilk on thy graue beis laid [etc.]. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 58 When the Grave is filled up, they erect a stone over the head of the deceased. 1750 Gray Elegy 116 The lay, Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn. 1767 Jago Edge-hill iv. 332 Alike the simple Stone And Mausoleum proud, his Pow'r attest, In wretched Doggrel, or elab'rate Verse. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis lxxi, The stone closes over Harry the Fourth, and Harry the Fifth reigns in his stead. 1900 Bp. W. How Lighter Moments 21 A stone-mason..brought a stone to put into the churchyard.

    e. As an object of idolatrous worship; chiefly pl. in conjunction with stocks: see stock n. 1 d.

c 1400 Apol. Loll. 89 Wat honor of God is þis, to ren about bi tre, and stone, and formis, and honor as God veyn figeris?

    † f. A gun-flint. Obs.

1611 Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burning Pestle v. i, Ralph. Wheres the stone of this Peece? 2 Sold. The Drummer took it out to light Tobacco.

    g. A rounded stone or pebble formerly used as a missile in war, being thrown with the hand, discharged from a sling, or shot from a fire-arm (cf. gunstone); † stone of iron, a cannon-ball (obs.).

c 1205 Lay. 626 Mid stocken & mid stanen stal fiht heo makeden. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 3030 Grete stones wyþ slynges [they] caste. c 1450 Brut 434 A traitour..shotte a Gonne, and the stone smot this good Erle of Salusbury. 1511 Guylforde's Pilgr. (Camden) 8 An other pece..shoteth a stone of irron of .ij. fote depe. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 113 The Frenchemen shot out ordinaunce, quarelles and stones. 1573–5 Gascoigne Flowers Wks. 1907 I. 81 The harquebush doth spit his spight, with prety persing stones. 1581 A. Hall Iliad iii. 47 The Greekes cease not to martch, their stones & darts at random flye. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4097/1 They..ply the Enemy..with Bombs and Stones, from 6 Mortars. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 288 Each of those they had loaded with..Flint Stones and Shot. 1867 A. L. Gordon Poems (1912) 94 Like a bird on the wing, or a stone from a sling.

    h. A shaped piece of stone for grinding or sharpening something, as a grindstone, millstone, whetstone.

1578 Invent. R. Wardr. (1815) 260 Ane man mylne with hir stanys and hir haill tymmer werk. 1599 Breton Wil of Wit (Grosart) 11/1 The stone, that Wit must whet himselfe uppon. 1751 N. Jersey Archives XIX. 1 A Large..grist⁓mill, with two pairs of stones. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped xxvi, Shearers worked all day in a field..and we could hear the stones going on the hooks.

    i. A flat slab or tablet for grinding something upon, or for smoothing or flattening something (see also flattening-stone, sleekstone, etc.); in Printing = imposing-stone; also a slab of stone for lithography (see 2 b).

14.. Crafte of Lymnynge in E.E. Misc. (Warton Club) 72 Grynde vermelone one a stone with newe glayre. a 1550 [see mustard-stone s.v. mustard n. 4 c]. 1573 Art Limming 5 b, Grind Synapour lake & Synapour topes ech by him selfe on a Painters stone. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xvii. ¶2 The Stone is commonly about eighteen Inches diameter, having both its Sides truly Rub'd flat and smooth. Ibid. xxiv. ¶17 They are to be Ground with a Mullar on a smooth Marble Stone. c 1806 in Archæol. Jrnl. (1894) Ser. ii. I. 112 A drawing..intended to be printed is made on a stone with a pen and a particular ink or with a kind of chalk. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. xix. (1842) 535 Glass may be ground on almost any flat stone with a coarse grain, by means of a little sharp sand and water. 1886 Furnivall in Shaks. Ven. & Ad. (1st Qo. facs.) p. xix, Troilus and Cressida is partly on the stone.

    j. A heavy stone used in athletic sports. Phrases, to cast, put, or throw the stone: see also put v.¹ 2, v.² 2.

c 1300–1816 [see put v.1 2, v.2 2]. 1518 H. Watson Hist. Oliver of Castile (Roxb.) C 1 b, Dysportes..vsed by noble men..as..tennys, lepe, sprynge, wrastle, cast the stone, cast the barre, or ony other games. 1561 Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtier i. (1577) D vj, It is meet for hym also to haue the Arte of swymming, to leape, to runne, to caste the stone. 1620 [see curling-stone]. 1638 Nabbes Totenham-Court ii. ii. (Bullen) I. 120 He pitcheth the barr and throws the stone. 1824 [see hog n.1 10]. 1849 Chambers's Inform. II. 649/2 Each person..causing his stone to slide towards the opposite end of the rink. 1891 [see curling-stone].

    † 6. A vessel of stone, or of stoneware; a stone jar, cistern, etc. Obs. (Cf. stean.)

c 1450 Lovelich Grail lv. 165 Thanne let he fyllen a ston [Fr. vne cuue]..Ful of water. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 52/8 Þen bade Ihesus seruandus full syxe stones þat stoden þer wyth watyr. 1470–85 Malory Arthur iv. viii. 128 Oute of that pype ranne water..in a stone of marbel. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 206 The maltsters used to fling the barley out of the cistern or stone into the floor.

    7. a. A precious stone: see precious a. 6 a. spec. in S. Afr.: a diamond.

c 825 Vesp. Psalter xviii. 11 [xix. 10] Wilsum ofer gold & stan. c 1200 Ormin 8170 Eȝȝwhær bisett Wiþþ deorewurrþe staness. c 1300 Havelok 1633 A gold ring drow he forth anon, An hundred pund was worth þe ston. 1340 Ayenb. 140 He louede betere þe bestes þet god him made þanne he dede gold oþer stones of pris. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 1062 With a coroune of many a riche stoon Vp on hire heed. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 468 His Basnet was bordourit and burneist bricht With stanes of Beriall cleir, Dyamountis and Sapheir, Riche Rubeis in feir. 1503 Dunbar Thistle & Rose 102 This lady..crownit him with dyademe Off radyous stonis. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 383 A riche crowne of gold garnished with stone and pearle. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iv. 27 Inestimable stones, vnvalewed Iewels. 1611 ― Cymb. ii. iv. 40 Sparkles this Stone as it was wont? 1753 Lond. Mag. Oct. 480/2 His buckles of stones, of five guineas price. 1884 M. A. Carey-Hobson At Home in Transvaal 184 He had placed no stones in the bank since Graham had been on the Fields. 1891 E. Glanville Fossicker xxix. 292 The cooling mud has closed around the ‘stones’, taking the impress of every angle and facet. 1910 H. A. Miers in Encycl. Brit. VIII. 161/2 The River Diggings on the Vaal river are still worked upon a small scale... The stones, however, are good. 1946 S. Cloete Afr. Portraits 109 His favourite stone was his blink klippie—his shining stone—the first diamond to be found in Africa. 1972 Panorama Dec. 27 ‘Stones’ are usually over one carat (a carat being 200 milligrams). Anything smaller falls in the ‘melee’ category.

    b. Criminals' slang. A diamond (see also quot. 1955).

1904 ‘No. 1500’ Life in Sing Sing 252/2 Stone, diamond. 1936 J. Curtis Gilt Kid xxiv. 240 Ten nicker for a little stone like that. 1955 D. W. Maurer in Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxiv. 122 A man's tie-pin, seldom worn nowadays, was a prop. If it had a diamond setting, it was referred to as a stone.

    c. Austral. Opal or opal-bearing material; an opal; to be on stone, to have struck opal stone. Also N.Z. (see quot. 1965).

1895 Rep. N.S.W. Dept. Mines 68 A patch of stone was taken about the end of the year which brought {pstlg}1,200. 1921 K. S. Prichard Black Opal iv. 33 You don't suppose Jun'd try to take the stones off of him, do you? 1924 T. C. Wollaston Opal iv. 61 The men were not ‘on stone’, it seemed, but perhaps I could change the luck? 1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. iii. 20/2 Stone, a miner's term for payable [sc. auriferous] quartz. 1967 A. Kalokerinos In Search of Opal 18 Stones that are worth $2,000 or more on the field are found at a rate that would not exceed one per week.

    8. a. A lump of metallic ore. Obs. exc. in stone of tin, a lump of tin ore.

c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxiv. §8 Þa gyldenan stanas, & þa seolfrenan, & ælces cynnes ᵹimmas. 1778 W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 81 A few Stones of Tin are found. 1895 Times 7 Jan. 3/4 The agents report good stones of tin coming from Trevannance engine shaft.

    † b. = loadstone. Obs.

1390 Gower Conf. III. 293 He hath his rihte cours forth holde Be Ston and nedle, til he cam To Tharse. 1436 Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 191 Of Yseland to wryte is lytille nede,..Men have practised by nedle and by stone Thider-wardes wythine a lytel whylle. 1631 W. Foster Sponge Weapon-salve 25, I deny that the Loadstone doth worke upon the North-pole. The pole rather workes upon the stone.

    9. = hailstone.

1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 198 God keste ham dovne wyth grete Stonys of hawle. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. xiii. 160 If I be so, From my cold heart let Heauen ingender haile, And poyson it in the sourse, and the first stone Drop in my necke. 1753 Scots Mag. June 307/1 Some of the stones measured three inches about.

    10. a. A hard morbid concretion in the body, esp. in the kidney or urinary bladder, or in the gallbladder (gall-stone); also an intestinal concretion in some animals (bezoar stone: see bezoar 2 a): = calculus 1. Also, the disease caused or characterized by the formation of such a concretion; lithiasis. (In hawks = cray¹ 2.)

c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 238 On þære blædran stanas weaxað. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. lv. (1495) 268 Of gleymy humours in the reynes and in the bledder comyth the stone. 1483 Caxton Cato e viij b, [Mustard] purgeth..the brayne and heyleth and breketh the stone. 1486 Bk. St. Albans C vij b, When yowre hawke may not metese then she hathe thatt sekenes calde the stoon. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 23 Chese ingendreth yll humours, and bredeth the stone. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cccciii. 888 The seede and roote of Saxifrage drunken with wine..breaketh the stone in the kidneies and bladder. 1620 Venner Via Recta viii. 177 To liue fettered with gouts,..& tormented with stones. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. v. i. v. 474 Bezoar stone... I haue seene [some] that haue beene much displeased with faintnesse,..& taking the weight of three grains of this stone..haue beene cured. 1628 in Foster Eng. Factories India (1909) III. 206 Very sick, being newly cutt for the stone. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 27 ¶2 In the Pangs of the Stone, Gout, or any acute Distemper. 1797 M. Baillie Morbid Anat. (1807) 373 Stones have some⁓times been found in the cavity of the uterus. 1846 G. E. Day tr. Simon's Anim. Chem. II. 442 Of 59 small stones taken from a man aged 45 years, 24 consisted of urate of ammonia and 35 of uric acid. 1859 Jephson Brittany vii. 89 Mineral waters, said to be beneficial in cases of stone and dropsy. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 233 The stones may have passed into the bowel.

    b. A hard natural formation in an animal.
    See also crab-stone (crab n.¹ 13), ear-stone (ear n.¹ 10).

1605 [see crab's-eye]. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Isagoge d 6, All kinds of stones found in the heads of fishes, powdred and drunk in wine, help the collick. Ibid. 190 Crab... The eyes or stones..breake the stone.

    11. a. A testicle: chiefly in pl. Obs. exc. in vulgar use. (See also ballock-stone.)

1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1124 ad fin., Six men spilde of here æᵹon & of here stanes. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 289 Þe rotynge of his priue stones. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour 71 They toke a knyff, and cutte awey the monkes stones. 1542 Boorde Dyetary xviii. (1870) 277 The stones of a cockrell, & the stones of other beestes that hath not done theyr kynde, be nutrytyue. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 163 The Toscanes hold Rammes stones fried for a great daintie. 1668 Culpeper & Cole Barthol. Anat. Introd., The action of the Liver is blood-making, of the Stones, Seed-making. 1713 J. Warder True Amazons 10 In the very shape of the Stones of a Lamb.

    † b. In old names of various species of orchis, as dogstones, fool's stones (fool n.¹ 7 c), fox-stones (fox n. 16); hence used in pl. as a generic term for ‘orchis’. Obs.

1562 Turner Herbal ii. 152 Y⊇ other kindes [of orchis] ar in other countrees called fox stones or hear stones, & they may after y⊇ Greke be called dogstones. 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. xcvii. 155, I haue placed it..next vnto the Lillies, before the kinds of Orchis or stones. Ibid. xcviii. 156 Tragorchis, or Gotes stones:..Testiculus odoratus, or sweete smelling stones:..Testiculus Pumilio, or Dwarffe stones.

    12. The hard wood-like endocarp of a stone-fruit or drupe, inclosed by the pulpy pericarp, and inclosing the seed or kernel. Also applied to the hard seeds of some pulpy fruits, as the grape.

1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §140 Cheryes..maye be sette of stones. 1591 A. W. Bk. Cookrye 10 b, Great Raisins, the stones taken out. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. i. 110 Cracking the stones of the foresaid prewyns. 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 120 In the eating of Grapes..that neither the skinnes, nor the kernels or stones in them be swallowed downe. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 252 Prunus... S[eed] Vessel nearly globular, pulpy, including a nut or stone. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 108 Bird Cherry..Stone globose. 1882 Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 122 The stone is the inner layer of the fundamental tissue of the same foliar structure of which the outer layers form the succulent flesh of the fruit.

    13. A name for a domino.

1865 Compl. Domino-player 19 [At vingt-et-un] the dealer then slides the players one domino or stone each. 1870 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 274 Stones... The name by which the domino is called at vingt-et-un.

    14. a. A measure of weight, usually equal to 14 pounds avoirdupois (¹/₈ of a hundredweight, or half a ‘quarter’), but varying with different commodities from 8 to 24 pounds. The stone of 14 lb. is the common unit used in stating the weight of a man or large animal. (Collective pl. usually stone.) See also stone-weight.

139. Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 76/16 Pro x stone lini. a 1400 Sir Perc. 2024 The clobe wheyhed reghte wele,..The hede was of harde stele, Twelve stone weghte! There was iryne in the wande, Ten stone of the lande. 1465 Manners & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 200 Item, in aparayll of the said shippe; ropes for hyr srowde, the wyche weyid xv. stone .ij. li., prise the stone, xxj.d. 1474 Stat. Winch. in Cov. Leet Bk. 396 The wich kepes weyght & mesure l li. the halfe C, xxvti li. the quartern, xij li. & halfe the halfe quartern, þe wich was called of olde tyme beyng Stone of London, & vj li. & a quartern ys the halfe Stone, as it appereth in Magna Carta. 1483 in Acta Dom. Concil. (1839) 83*/2, ix stane of chese,..ten stane of butter. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 4 §2 Be it also enacted that ther be but only..xiiij lb. to the stone of Wolle. 1520 Cov. Leet Bk. 668 That no taloo be solde by-twene this & the next lete a-bove ij s. the Stonne. 1542 Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 203 In woolle..the 14 pounde is not named halfe quarterne, but a Stone. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Stat. Robt. III, 56 b, The stane to wey woll and other things, sould haue fiuetene punds. Ane stane of walx, aucht. Twelue London punds makes ane stane. 1674 J. Josselyn Two Voy. 15 Of Sugar and Spice 8 pound make the stone. 1730 Cheny List Horse-Matches 68 Fourteen Hands to carry Nine Stone. 1825 R. P. Ward Tremaine I. xviii. 123 He rose up, as well as sixteen stone would permit. 1845 G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. IV. 96 The wool comes in bags containing about ten stones each—a ‘stone’ in this commodity being twenty-four pounds. 1846 Baxter's Libr. Pract. Agric. I. 213 A calf..eighteen weeks old, weighing..33 stone. 1887 ‘M. Rutherford’ Revol. Tanner's Lane i. (ed. 8) 7 A drayman weighing about eighteen stone. 1913 Times 19 Aug. 14/5 Quotations per stone of 8 lb...Beef..Mutton.

    b. A piece of metal of this weight, used in weighing, or (as in quot.) as a standard.

1556 Peebles Burgh Rec. (1872) 235 The commoun stane to be put in sure keping in the commoun Kist.

    c. In phr. to give a stone and a beating to (Racing slang): to outrun easily, despite carrying a heavier weight. Also transf., to surpass. Now rare.

1885 Daily News 4 Feb. 5/2 Canis vulpis is, as a rule, able to give, intellectually speaking, and in language germane to the matter, ‘a stone and a beating’ to the majority of his pursuers. 1906 Punch 18 Apr. 286/3 Their Smokeroom is deliciously comfy, and can give a stone and a beating to ours at the Camellia.

    15. In collectors' names of certain moths: see also Mocha¹ 2.

1775 M. Harris Engl. Lepidoptera 45 Phalæna... Stone, mocha... Stone, pale mocha. 1832 J. Rennie Consp. Butterfl. & Moths 64 Xylina... The Stone (X. petrificata..) Wings..pale grey brown. Ibid. 114 Ephyra... The Mocha Stone (E. porata..).

    16. Proverbial phrases. † a. to boil, roast, or wash a stone: to labour in vain, expend effort with no result. Obs.

1522 Skelton Why not to Court 109 They may..elles go rost a stone. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. ii. ii. (1867) 46, I doo but roste a stone. In warmyng hir. c 1548 in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1822) II. ii. 316 Or els he washeth a stone, that is to say, he laboureth in vayne. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 22 May 6/1 Like the old saying:—‘Boil stones in butter and you shall sup the broth.’

    b. to kill two birds with one stone: to accomplish two different purposes by the same act or proceeding.

1656 [see bird n. 6]. 1696 Growth of Deism in Eng. 11 Thereby they kill two or three Birds with one stone. 1847 Mrs. Sherwood Fairchild Fam. iii. xxi. 273 So..she will be killing two birds with one stone.

    c. to leave no stone unturned (also formerly to move, roll, or turn every stone or all stones): to try every possible expedient in order to bring about a desired result.

c 1550 Dice-Play B vj, He wil refuse no labor nor leaue no stone vnturned, to pick vp a penny. 1569 T. Underdown Heliodorus viii. 108 b, Now turne euery stoane, deuise al maner of meanes. 1600 Holland Livy xxv. xxiii. 565 Hee would leave no stone unrolled, but trie all waies that could be devised. 1637 Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. Epist. B 1 b, They make so much adoe, and move every stone against us. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche x. lxx, Still he persever'd all stones to roll, Which might that one in Judas' Bosom move. 1670 G. H. tr. Hist. Cardinals ii. iii. 190 [He] has left no stone unturn'd to arrive at his designs. 1791 Burke Corr. (1844) III. 349 We shall not be negligent; no stone will be left unturned. 1873 Stanley Serm. East 108 He left no stone unturned to do the work which was set before him.

    d. (a) † to roll the stone: to discuss a matter (obs.). (b) to set († put) a stone rolling: to start a course of action which may lead to unforeseen, esp. disastrous, consequences. (c) Prov. a rolling stone gathers no moss: see moss n. 3 b, rolling stone 1. (d) † to stand on a rolling stone (etc.): to be in a precarious position where one is likely to fall or suffer disaster (obs.).

1581 R. Goade in Confer. iii. (1584) Q iiij, This stone hath bene rowled enough. 1592 Kyd Spanish Trag. i. iii. 317 Whose foote is standing on a rowling stone. 1602 W. Fulbecke Pandectes 78 How murther hath beene punished..I haue shewed I hope sufficientlie..so that I shall not need here to rowle the same stone. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII v. iii. 104, I told ye all When we first put this dangerous stone a rowling, 'Twold fall vpon our selues.

    † e. to spring or be sprung of (a, the) stone: used in similative expressions indicating the absence of any known ancestry or kinsfolk. Obs.

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6720 Seint Edward in normandie was þo bileued al one As bar, as wo seiþ, of þe kunde as he sprong of þe stone. a 1300 K. Horn (Camb.) 1026 Horn him ȝede alone, Also he sprunge of stone. a 1400 Sir Perc. 1043 Als he ware sprongene of a stane, Thare na mane hym kende.

    † f. to take a stone (up) in the ear: (of a woman) to lapse from virtue. slang. Obs.

1691 Shadwell Scowrers ii. 19 Did you see who went off with your Aunt! is she given to stumble? will she take a Stone in her Ear? 1702 T. Brown Lett. fr. Dead Wks. 1730 II. 92 Madam, I much rejoice to hear, You'll take a stone up in your ear; For I'm a frail transgressor too.

    g. to throw (cast) a stone or stones (at): to make an attack (upon), or bring an accusation (against). So to cast the first stone (in allusion to John viii. 7).

1568 Sat. Poems Reform. xlvii. 83 Quhat cummer castis the formest stane,..At tha peure winschis ȝe wranguslie suspect. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 325 Will not all the Grammarians, Logicians, and Rhetoricians..throwe stones at him? a 1633 [see glass n.1 1]. 1670 [see glass window]. 1674 Hickman Hist. Quinquart. (ed. 2) 109 The Doctor, as if he were perfectly free from this crime, thus throweth his stones at others. 1754 J. Shebbeare Matrimony (1766) II. 102 Thee shouldst not throw stones, who hast a Head of Glass thyself. 1827 Scott Chron. Canongate v, It is not, however, prudent to commence with throwing stones, just when I am striking out windows of my own. 1869 [see glass-house 2].

    h. stone of stumbling († scandal, † slander, etc.): an occasion of scandal or stumbling, a stumbling-block (Vulgate petra scandali). † stone of touch = touchstone (obs.).

1382 Wyclif Isa. viii. 14 The Lord..shal be..in to a ston..of offencion [1388 a stoon of hirtyng], and in to a ston of sclaunder [Coverd. stone to stomble at, y⊇ rock to fall vpon; 1611 for a stone of stumbling and for a rocke of offence] to the two houses of Irael. 1604 A. Craig Poet. Ess. (1873) 13 Be thou the stone (precellent Prince) of tuch, For to secerne the honest mindes from such. 1639 S. Du Verger Camus' Admir. Events 111 She was accounted as a stone of scandall which ought to bee cast forth of the City. 1695 tr. Misson's Voy. Italy II. 107 His Authority has been always a Stone of Stumbling to those who are wont to make Prejudice their Rule of Faith. 1911 B. Nightingale Ejected of 1662 in Cumbld. & Westmld. I. 701 Hutchinson's error has..been quite a stone of stumbling to subsequent writers.

    i. Phrases of comparison, with adjs. (cold, dead, hard, etc. as (a) stone): see 3 c.
    17. attrib. passing into adj. a. Consisting of stone; made or built of stone.

a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 1700 (Gr.) Him on laste bu stiðlie stantorr. a 1000 Ruin 39 (Gr.) Stanhofu stodan. 1402–3 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 217, 1 stanetrogh et 1 tretrogh. 1420 Engl. Misc. (Surtees) 17 The stane house toward the kynges strete. c 1483 in Nicolas Chron. Lond. (1827) 7 In this yere the stone brigge of Londone was first begoune to make. 1552 Huloet, Stone crosse, pyramis. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 176 [He] bigit money stain house. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 333 A very goodly stone bridge of arch-work. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 18 The Stone or wooden Figure. a 1672 Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 43 M. Anthony Wood..was borne in an antient stone-house opposite.. Merton Coll. a 1728 Woodward Fossils Method ii. 39 The Stone-Weapons,..were all cut out, and made, before the Discovery of Iron. 1766 Smollett Trav. I. 351 The olives..are..ground into a paste by a mill-stone, set edge-ways into a circular stone-trough. Ibid. II. 46 A range of antient Roman stone-coffins. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 89 The Water that had fallen on the Urn from the Lime-stone..had petrified and made a Stone-crust on the outside thereof. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. Plate XIII, A common stone roller..for rolling arable lands. 1829 Scott Anne of G. xiv, The sword, escaping from his hold, rolled on the stone floor with a heavy clash. 1833 Tennyson Lady Clara Vere de Vere 23 The lion on your old stone gates. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxii, At last he reached a stone hall. 1841 S. C. Brees Gloss. Civil Engin. 24 Stone blocks were introduced in place of wooden sleepers. 1908 [Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 29 A stone quern.

    b. Made of stoneware; also transf. of ginger-beer contained in stoneware bottles.

c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark xiv. 3 & mið-ðy ᵹebrocen wæs þæt stan fæt to-dælde..ofer heafud his. 1479–81 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 101 Item, for a stone potte to put in oyle, j d ob. 1547 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 256 My stone cup withe the silver cover. c 1600 Acc. Bk. W. Wray in Antiquary XXXII. 80 Beate them well in a stone morter. 1626 in Jewitt Life Wedgwood (1865) 37 To grant vnto them our royall priveledge for ‘The sole making of the Stone Potte, Stone Jugge, and Stone Bottle’, within our Dominions. 1642 Rates of Merchandizes 54 Stonebirds or Whistles. [Cf. Ibid. 57 Whistles, cocks or Birds of stone.] 1676 Worlidge Vinet. Brit. 103 Glass-bottles are preferr'd to Stone-bottles, because that Stone-bottles are apt to leak. a 1756 E. Haywood New Present (1771) 215 Always keep your pickles in stone jars. 1782 Cowper Gilpin 66 Mistress Gilpin..Had two stone bottles found, To hold the liquor that she lov'd. 1851–4 Tomlinson Cycl. Arts (1867) II. 196/2 The contents of the basket are turned into a stone or iron vessel. 1884 B'ham Daily Post 28 July 3/4 Mineral-water Trade..stone beer. 1904 H. Beswick Last Karkawber etc. 37 While I sipped my stone-ginger.

    c. Applied to substances in a solid or massive (as distinct from liquid or powdered) form, as stone alum, stone-blue, stone ochre, stone-pitch.

1608 Topsell Serpents 42 Mustard-seede three scruples,..Stone-Allom and Opopanax, of either halfe an ounce. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 802 A thin coat of gold size..composed of stone ochre ground in fat oil.

    d. Of, pertaining or relating to stone or stones (in various senses).

1826 A. C. Hutchinson Pract. Observ. Surg. 313 The paucity of stone cases occurring in tropical climates. 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1244 Constructing them..either on the wooden model or the stone model. 1879 Ruskin Hortus Inclusus (1887) 67 It is delightful of you to be interested in that stone book. 1911 W. W. Skeat in Folk-lore (1912) XXIII. 60 The best-known stone superstition is that the celt was a thunderbolt.

    e. ellipt. Belonging to the stone age.

1864 J. Hunt tr. Vogt's Lect. Man xii. 340 The stone skull..is still narrower than the Lapp skull. Ibid. 368 The stone people of Europe knew of no metal. 1880 Dawson Fossil Man i. (1883) 7 The earlier Stone folk are known to us only by their graves.

    f. (from 11.) Of male domestic animals: Not castrated, entire, as stone-ass, stone-colt, stone-ram, stone-horse; † hence allusively of men = lascivious, lustful, as stone-priest, stone-puritan.

1602 Chettle Hoffman ii. (1631) C 3, I could helpe you now to a stone mule, a *stone-asse. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 355 A mare takes a stone-ass.

1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2710/4 A Cream-coloured young *Stone-Colt. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2), Benager..near Mendip-hills; has a fair for stone colts at Whitsuntide.

1608 Merry Devil Edmonton iv. i. (facs.) E 1, The *stone Priest steales more venison then halfe the country. 1663 Dryden Wild Gallant v. ii, Who have I got, a Stone-Priest by this good Light.

1614 B. Jonson Barth. F. iii. ii, Fine ambling hypocrites! and a *stone-puritane.

1764 Ann. Reg. ii. 10/1 Their winter garment is made of deer or *stone-ram skins with the hair on.

    g. With preceding numeral, forming an attrib. or adj. phrase, in sense (a) set with a (specified) number of (precious) stones; (b) weighing (so many) stone; hence transf. applied to the prize in a race in which the horses carry the specified weight.

1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1865/8 A Seven Stone Diamond Ring. 1705 Ibid. No. 4149/4 A 12 Stone Plate..will be run for..by Hunters.

    18. Obvious Combinations (unlimited in number): a. attrib. as stone-cliff, stone-heap, stone-marl (marl n.¹ 1 b), stone-merchant, stone-quarry, stone-ship, stone-volley, stone-worship, etc. b. objective, etc., as stone-caster, stone-digger, stone-gatherer, † stone-graver, stone-hewer, stone-setter, stone-shooter, stone-worshipper; stone-casting, stone-cleaving, stone-darting, stone-eating, stone-haunting, stone-moving, stone-rolling, stone-throwing, stone-worshipping ns. and adjs.; stone-like adj. c. instrumental, locative, and parasynthetic, as stone-builder; stone-arched, stone-bearded, stone-bladed, stone-built, stone-coated, stone-edged, stone-faced, stone-flagged, stone-floored, stone-headed, stone-horned, † stone-living (living in stone), stone-paved, stone-pillared, stone-ribbed, stone-roofed, stone-strewn, etc., adjs.; stone-face vb.

1822 Scott Nigel x, The old *stone-arched hall.

1922 Joyce Ulysses 141 A man supple in combat: stonehorned, *stonebearded, heart of stone.

1893 H. Balfour in 6th Ann. Rep. Univ. Mus. Oxford 24 *Stone⁓bladed axe.

1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. i. x. Spade-men, barrow-men, *stone-builders. 1913 Sir H. Johnston Pioneers Australasia viii. 266 This vanished race of stone⁓builders whose works stretch across the Pacific.

1798 Times 28 June 4/1 A large *stone-built Farm House.

1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. ii. v. (1622) 39 The Captaine..commaunded the sling-casters and *stone-casters to let freely at them.

a 1400 Octovian 895 At wrestelyng, and at *ston castynge, He wan the prys.

1644 Digby Nat. Soul Concl. 457 In halfe yeare nights;..in perpetuall *stonecleauing coldes. 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 866/2 Stone cleaving Machine..for dividing granite.

1912 E. Pound Ripostes 26 Storms, on the *stone-cliffs beaten.

1767 Phil. Trans. LVII. 411 A clean *stone-coated retort. 1769 Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 145 The stone-coated worms which the fishermen call hadock meat.

1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 12 Their *stondarting engines.

1562 in Archæologia XXXVI. 301 To Dorye the *stone dyggere..for xxxiij. dayes dyggynge of stone and chalke. 1864 in Life W. Pennefather (1879) 389 Including stone-diggers, there were representatives from more than thirty..villages.

1815 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xii. (1818) I. 391 The *stone-eating caterpillars recorded in the Memoirs of the French Academy..are now known to erode the walls..solely for the purpose of forming their cocoons.

1895 K. Grahame Golden Age 45 Terrace of shaven sward, *stone-edged.

1852 J. Wiggins Embanking 125 The cost of *stone-facing a sea-bank.

1632 Lithgow Trav. viii. 375 Where huge and hilly lands Haue *stone-fac'd scurrile bounds. 1874 Contemp. Rev. Oct. 762 The churches are proud of their stone-faced interiors. 1932 W. Faulkner Light in August xvi. 355 This time he indicates the stonefaced woman; she may or may not be listening to what he is saying. 1973 M. Woodhouse Blue Bone ix. 82 The Eisenwald Volksklinik was..a huge stonefaced structure.

1904 E. Wharton Italian Villas i. 53 The house is built about three sides of a raised *stone-flagged terrace. 1978 J. Wainwright Jury People v. 16 The room had a stone-flagged floor.

1841 Dickens Barn. Rudge lviii, A *stone-floored room.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2396/2 *Stone-gatherer, a machine for picking up loose surface stones in fields. 1894 Lady M. Verney Verney Mem. III. 132 Stone-gatherers should be set to work on some of the fields.

1530 Tindale Exod. xxviii. 11 After the worke of a *stonegrauer..shalt thou graue the .ii. stones with the names of the childern of Israel.

1933 Auden Poems (ed. 2) 43 By pot-holed becks A bird *stone-haunting, an unquiet bird.

1829 G. Griffin Collegians I. viii. 170 The difference which existed between..an English halberd and a *stone-headed gai-bulg. 1904 Spencer & Gillen North. Tribes Central Australia xxiii. 671 A stone-headed spear.

1382 Wyclif 2 Kings x. 8 Puttith hem at the two *stone hepis [Vulg. ad duos acervos]. 1868 N. & Q. 15 Aug. 165/2 The game Set-a-Foot is still played by the rising generation who frequent Park Square, Regent's Park, under the name of Stone Heaps. 1941 F. Thompson Over to Candleford 356 They ran..and wrestled the whole way, or pushed each other over stone-heaps or into ditches. 1977 New Yorker 17 Oct. 37/3 Her stone heap... My mother spreads out soapy white laundry on these stones, so that the hot sun will bleach them even whiter.

1579–80 North Plutarch, Alcib. (1595) 217 Many carpenters, masons, *stone hewers, and other workmen. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. vi. viii, Heavy Monge the Mathematician, once a stone-hewer.

1922 *Stone-horned [see stone-bearded above].

1776 Da Costa Elem. Conchol. 2 A Shell..a kind of *stone-like calcareous covering..in which the whole animal..lives included as in a house. 1855 Lynch Rivulet xxvi. i, While the law on stone is written, Stone-like is the mighty word.

1631 W. Foster Sponge Weapon-salve 25 But of Saxanimalia *stone⁓living creatures never did I heare.

1760 R. Brown Compl. Farmer ii. 44 Cow-shut or *stone-marle is commonly found under clay. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 238 It is distinguished..into shell, clay, and stone marle..the stone marle has different proportions of sand united with the calcareous matter and the clay.

1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God xviii. xiii. 678 The fiction..of Amphion and his *stone⁓moouing musicke.

a 1593 Marlowe Ovid's Elegies iii. i. 3 A *stone-pau'd sacred spring. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose xiii, On the floor of a damp and stone-paved dungeon.

1601 Holland Pliny vii. lvi. I. 188 Cadmus..found out *stone quarries first. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vi. iii, He has to fly again, to skulk, round Paris, in thickets and stone⁓quarries.

1817 Scott Harold iv. i. 2 The long Gothic aisle and *stone-ribb'd roof. 1936 L. B. Lyon Bright Feather Fading 19 The bone-Bare garden steep, the stone-ribbed land.

1606 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. i. Tropheis 1045 *Stone-rowling Tay. 1903 Daily Chron. 31 Mar. 9/1 Wheelbarrow races and stone-rolling competitions.

1825 R. Wilson Hist. Hawick 56 The building..being *stone-roofed, was preserved.

1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6432/5 Simon Dyer,..*Stone-setter.

1849 W. R. O'Byrne Naval Biog. Dict. 850/2 An attempt to sink two *stone-ships at the entrance of the harbour.

1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 700 Two archers, two slingers, three *stone-shooters.

1853 M. Arnold Poems 179 The climbing gourd-plant's leaves Muffled its walls, and on the *stone-strewn roof Lay the warm golden gourds. 1974 R. Adams Shardik x. 71 The bear's trail led on through the bushes to emerge in open, stone-strewn woodland.

1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. xiii. ix. (1622) 191 The sling⁓casters and *stone-throwers had a place appointed them.

1880 Goldw. Smith Cowper ii. 32 He..became the mark for a little *stone-throwing. 1881 W. E. Forster in T. W. Reid Life (1888) II. 321 An obstructing, stone-throwing mob.

1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 45 A *stone-vaulted kitchen.

1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iii. viii, It has passed from..duelling..to street-fighting; to *stone-volleys and musket-shot.

1838 Akerman in Numism. Jrnl. II. 216 The *stone⁓worship of the ancients illustrated by their coins.

1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. iv. 152 note, We forbid *stone-worshippings.

    19. a. In adverbial comb. with adjs. or pples., in similative sense (cf. phrases in 3), and hence occas. as a mere intensive (= very, completely): as in stone-asleep, † stone-astonied, stone-bright, stone-cold (also in quasi-advb. attrib. use, esp. in phr. stone cold sober = utterly sober), stone-comfortless, stone-dead, stone-deaf, stone-dumb, stone-hard, † stone-naked, † stone-old (Sc. stane-auld), stone-silent; stone-blind, also stone-still adv. and adj. Also with adjs. of colour (which may also be used as ns.), as stone-brown, stone-buff, stone-grey.

1826 Hood Last Man 64 The folks were all *stone-asleep.

1596 R. L[inche] Diella (1877) 60 *Stone-astonied, like a Deare at gaze.

1916 E. Pound Lustra 26, I have known the *stone-bright place, The hall of clear colours.

1894 R. B. Sharpe Birds Gt. Brit. I. 65 Eggs.—Four to six in number. Ground-colour, *stone⁓brown..scribbled and blotched all over with black.

1882–4 Yarrell's Brit. Birds (ed. 4) III. 561 The nestling is of a *stone-buff on the upper parts.

1592 Breton Pilgr. Paradise (Grosart) 12/1 Thou *stone-colde hart. 1836 T. Hook G. Gurney I. 139 The lamb was stone cold, and the fish boiled to pieces. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. xiv. iii. (1864) IX. 123 His text-book was the rigid, stone-cold Sentences of Peter the Lombard. 1913 F. H. Burnett T. Tembarom xxxiv. 435 It'd be stone-cold safe to rush things. 1937 T. Rattigan French without Tears iii. i. 65 Are you stone-cold sober? 1958 A. Sillitoe Saturday Night & Sunday Morning vii. 111 We've been stone-cold sober since Canning Circus. 1969 C. Armstrong Seven Seats to Moon v. 59, I could have been stone-cold-dead in Chicago! 1979 O. Sela Petrograd Consignment 144 Unlike the other revolutionaries, the Bolsheviks..were resolutely stone-cold sober.

1924 D. H. Lawrence in M. Magnus Mem. Foreign Legion 13 There I had a big and lonely, *stone-comfortless room.

c 1290 St. Agnes 76 in S. Eng. Leg. 183 He fel a-doun *stan-ded. 1531 Tindale Expos. 1 John (1537) 55 We were stone dead and wythout lyfe or power to do or consent to good. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xi. 43 As when Ioues harnesse-bearing Bird from hie Stoupes at a flying heron..The stone-dead quarrey fals. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 331 He dropt down stone-dead. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. lxxxix. III. 217 Keep up the fight until it [the power of corruption] is stone dead.

1837 Lockhart Life Scott (1839) IX. 197 A man almost literally *stone-deaf could not discharge..the highest duties of a parish-priest in a satisfactory manner. 1872 A. J. C. Hare Story My Life (1900) IV. xvi. 50 She is quite stone-deaf, so we..correspond on a slate.

1888 F. R. Stockton in Century Mag. Feb. 622, I did say to myself..Now Elizabeth is so *stone dumb that she'll jus' stay here an' do the little I tell her to do.

1878 Trimen Regiments Brit. Army 21 Its uniform when raised was *stone-grey.

13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 884, & steken þe ȝates *ston-harde wyth stalworth barrez. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 618/222 Iewes ston-hard in sinnes merk. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 227 The murd'rous Knife was dull and blunt, Till it was whetted on thy stone-hard heart. 1875 Tennyson Q. Mary i. v, He is..Stone-hard, ice-cold—no dash of daring in him.

c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb). 77 Ȝe tirvid hym *stone naked aȝeinward scornfully.

c 1800 Johnnie o Cocklesmuir xi. in Child Ballads III. 9 By there came a *stane-auld man.

1862 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xii. x. (1865) IV. 235 Friedrich..was *stone-silent on this matter.

1769 J. Wedgwood Let. 1 Dec. (1965) 85 We have nobody making white ware here, only *stone white ware. 1949 E. Pound Pisan Cantos lxxxiv. 129 Carrara Snow on the marble Snow-white against stone-white.

    b. Intensively with adjs. in non-similative use (after stone-broke adj., sense 20 a below): completely, utterly, ‘plumb’, as stone crazy, stone drunk, stone mad, etc. Also in adj. relation to n., complete, utter, ‘dead’; excellent. Cf. stone ginger (b), sense 20 a below. slang.

1928 Lawn Tennis & Badminton 23 June 255/2 Few could have foreseen that the two doubles would have been the ‘stone certainties’ for Britain that they proved to be. 1933 Partridge Words, Words, Words! 214 India gives us..piache, mad... On the analogy of stone mad, stone piache was employed for a change. 1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men (1970) i. iii. 66 You must be stone crazy! Why, dis hide is worth five thousand dollars. 1947 K. Tennant Lost Haven ix. 126 Oh, don't let him think of the punt again—that was the stone finish! 1959 Esquire Nov. 70 Stone, adjective meaning complete. Example: He's a stone musician. 1960 Observer 25 Dec. 7/7 If..he were stone rich and lived in a big drum in the country. 1968 Blues Unlimited Dec. 12 First things developed was the set of four reissue albums labelled ‘Legendary Masters’; three being stone blues albums. 1970 D. M. Davin Not here, not Now iii. vi. 202 This was the finish, the stone end of it. 1978 N.Y. Times 30 Mar. a21/1 A little later another patrol..declared him stone drunk, and confiscated his documents and his car keys.

    c. As adj., excited; intoxicated with drink or drugs, ‘stoned’. U.S. slang. rare.

1945 L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 19/1 Stone (adj), excited or intoxicated. 1960 R. G. Reisner Jazz Titans 165 Stone, drunk or high.

    20. a. Special comb.: † stone-bag, ? a bag carried on board ship, containing stones to be used as shot; stone-bark Bot., bark consisting chiefly of hardened and thickened cells (cf. stone-cell); stone-barrow [barrow n.³], a barrow for carrying stones; † stone-binder = osteocolla; stone-boiler, one who practises stone-boiling; stone-boiling, the process of boiling water by putting hot stones in it, as practised by certain primitive peoples; stone-brash [brash n.²], a subsoil consisting of loose broken stone; also attrib.; stone-breaker, a person employed in, or a machine used for, breaking stones; so stone-breaking; stone-broke a. slang, ‘hard up’, ruined (cf. stony-broke, stony a. 6 c); stone bruise chiefly N. Amer., an injury to the feet caused by walking on stony ground; hence stone-bruised a.; stone-buckle, a buckle set with precious stones; stone-butter [after G. steinbutter; cf. rock-butter butter n.¹ 3], a name for alum occurring in soft masses greasy to the touch; stone-canal Zool., a canal forming part of the water-vascular system in Echinoderms, usually with calcareous walls, leading from the madreporic plate to the circumoral water-vessel; † stone-case, (a) ? an enclosed millstone for grinding apples for cider; (b) a case to contain a stone; stone cell Bot., one of a number of greatly hardened and thickened cells occurring in certain plants; stone-china, a kind of stoneware (see quot. 1825); stone circle Archæol. = circle n. 12; stone cist Archæol. see cist 1 a; † stone-colic, colic attributed to the presence of a stone in the kidneys (see 10); stone-colour, the (usual) colour of stone, a yellowish or brownish grey; also attrib.; so stone-coloured a.; stone-craft, the art or skill of working in stone; sculpture; stone cream, a traditional blancmange-like sweet served cold on a base of jam; stone-crusher, a machine for crushing or grinding stone, a stone-breaker; stone-delf (now dial.) a stone-quarry; † stone-doublet slang, a prison; † stone-drawer, (a) a surgical instrument for extracting a stone from the bladder; (b) a man who digs stone from a quarry, a quarryman; stone-dresser, one who dresses or shapes stone for building; also, a machine for this purpose; so stone-dressing (also attrib.); stone-drop (nonce-wd.), poetic name for a stalactite; stone-dust, dust or powder made of particles of broken stone; hence stone-dusting, the introduction of stone-dust to the air in a mine to render the coal-dust less combustible; stone-dust v. trans., with place as obj.; stone-eared a., ‘hard of hearing’, deaf (in quot. in fig. sense); stone-eater, a conjuror who pretends to swallow stones (see also 20 b); stone-element Bot., a hard element of tissue (cf. stone-cell); stone-engraving, the art or process of engraving on stone, lithography; stone era = stone period; stone-etching, the art or process of etching on stone; stone-eyed a., (a) ? having the eyes fixed or motionless; (b) dull-sighted, ‘blind’ (fig.); stone face U.S. colloq., a person whose features reveal no emotions; a poker-faced person; esp. in phr. great stone face in playful allusion to Hawthorne's tale (see bracketed quot. 1850); stone-fall, a fall of meteoric stones, or of loose stones on a mountain slope; stone fence, (a) a fence made of stones, a stone wall; (b) U.S. slang, name for various intoxicating drinks (see quots.); stone-field, an expanse of ground covered with large stones; spec. = felsenmeer; stone frigate Naut. slang, a Naval shore establishment or barracks (see quot. 1948); formerly spec. a naval prison; also transf.; stone-gall [gall n.² 4]: see quot.; stone garland Geomorphol., a low bank or terrace of large stones occurring on a steep slope and curved downwards so as to resemble a garland or necklace; stone-getter, a workman who gets stone from a quarry, a quarryman; stone ginger, (a) (see sense 17 b); (b) slang, a certainty, a ‘sure thing’ (cf. sense 19 b above); also as adj., certain; † stone-glass = glass-stone (see glass n.¹ 16); stone-grave, † (a) = stone-pit; (b) a prehistoric grave containing stone implements (also attrib.); † stone-grist, ? the privilege of using a grindstone; stone-ground a., ground by means of millstones: cf. stone-mill (c); stone guard, an attachment serving to prevent stones entering the air-intake system of a motor vehicle or aeroplane; a similar device protecting another part of a vehicle; † stone-gun, a gun for firing stone shot; stone-hammer, a hammer for breaking or rough-dressing stones; stone-hand (Printing) = stoneman¹ 1; stone harmonicon: see quot., and cf. rock harmonicon (rock n.¹ 9); stone-head, the top of the stratum of solid stone or bed-rock beneath the loose or soft superficial deposit; also = next; stone-heading Coal Mining, a heading driven through stone or rock; stone-hearted a. (now rare) = stony-hearted; stone-heled (-healed, -hilled) a. [hele v.² 2], covered or roofed with stone (obs. or dial.); stone-honey (see quot.); † stone-hook, ? one of a pair of hooks for lifting blocks of stone; stone kist, var. stone cist above; stone-knife House-painting, a larger form of palette-knife used for mixing colours on the slab; stone-layer (? obs.), a workman who lays stones in building (cf. bricklayer); stone-laying, the laying of stones in building; spec. the ceremonial laying of the foundation-stone of a public building, esp. a church; stone-lifter, (a) a machine for hoisting stones; (b) a name for the Australian fish Kathetostoma læve, of the family Uranoscopidæ; stone-lime, lime made from limestone (as distinguished from chalk-lime); stone line Geomorphol., a layer of isolated stones between subsoil and underlying rock; also, the line of stones that this appears as in a section through the soil; stone-marble Bookbinding, one of the many ways of marbling books; † stone marl = next; stone marrow [after G. steinmark, latinized by Agricola as stenomarga], name for a kind of spongy limestone (= lithomarge); stone-mill, (a) a mill for grinding stone, a stone-crusher; (b) a machine for dressing stones; (c) a mill in which millstones (not rollers) are used for grinding the flour; so stone-milled a. = stone-ground; † stone-mushroom, ? = mushroom coral (mushroom 6 c); † stone-nail, ? a nail for fixing stone slates (cf. stone-brod); stone net Geomorphol., a network of stone rings or polygons; stone-oil, a name for a kind of bitumen (see quot. 1838), or for petroleum or rock-oil; also erron. applied to a mixture of petrosilex and water used as a glaze for pottery; stone pavement Geomorphol., an area of ground covered with large flattish stones; stone period Archæol. = stone age; also, a portion of the stone age; also attrib.; stone-pit, a pit from which stones are dug, a quarry; stone-plant, † (a) a fossil or petrified plant (= rock-plant 1); (b) a plant growing in stony or rocky places (= rock-plant 2); stone-pock Path., a hard suppurating pimple; a disease characterized by such pimples, as acne; stone-polisher, one engaged in polishing stones for building or other purposes; also, a machine for this purpose; so stone-polishing (also attrib.); stone polygon Geomorphol., a naturally occurring arrangement of stones in the approximate form of a polygon; stone-printer, a lithographic printer; stone-put Sc. [put n.¹ 2] = stone's throw; stone ring, (a) Geomorphol., a natural circle of stones on the ground, similar to a stone polygon; (b) Archæol. = stone circle; stone river, a dense, stream-like accumulation of rocks and large stones occurring along a valley bottom or down a slope; esp. one of those in the Falkland Islands; † stone-roche = rock n.¹ 2 a; stone run = stone river above; stone-saw, a saw, usually without teeth, for cutting stone into blocks or other shapes for building or other purposes; stone-sawyer, a man who works a stone-saw; stone-sclerenchyma Bot., sclerenchyma or hard tissue formed of stone-cells; stone-shower, a shower or fall of meteoric stones; † stone-shrub, name for a kind of coral; stone-slate, a roofing slate made of thin stone; stone-square Brewing, a square fermenting-tank made of stone; stone-squarer, one who squares or shapes stone for building, a stone-cutter, stone-dresser; stone stripe Geomorphol., one of the evenly spaced bands of coarse rock debris separated by finer material that occur on slopes in cold environments; stone tint = stone-colour; stone-turf, ? a hard or compact kind of turf; stone-user, one who uses stone for weapons, etc., a man of the stone age; so stone-using a.; † stone-wring (Sc. stane-), ? = stone-colic; stone-yard, a yard in which stone-breaking or stone-cutting is done; fig. a part of the sea full of rocks. See also stone age, stone-axe, stone-blind, stone-boat, stone-bow, etc.

1346 MS. Acc. Exch. K.R. 25/7 no. 2 In emendacione..iiij. anulorum ferri pro iiij. *stonbagges et ij. ligulis ferreis pro le top castel. 1388 in Nicolas Hist. Royal Navy (1847) II. 476, iii. stonebagges febles.

1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 540 In other cases [these cells] form larger groups,..inserted in the soft tissue, the number and size of which may increase in the older parts of the cortex..so that the old cortex has been appropriately termed ‘*stone-bark’ by Hartig.

c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. xiii. (Frog & Mouse) xx, To the war better beir the *stane barrow, Than to be matchit with ane wickit marrow. 1480–1 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 96 Pro factura unius hollbarowe et 2 stanebarowes, 6d.

1791 G. Wallis Motherby's Med. Dict. (ed. 3) 563/2 Osteites, Osteocolla, called also..*stone⁓binder.

1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. ix. 262 A North American tribe,..the Assinaboins or ‘*Stone-Boilers’.

Ibid., This intermediate process, which I propose to call *Stone⁓Boiling. 1883 tr. Joly's Man before Metal ii. i. 204 note, The process known as ‘stone-boiling’, which consists in obtaining boiling water by means of stones heated directly in the fire and then dropped in the water.

1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 242 Another sort of Land they call *Stone-brash, consisting of a light lean Earth and a small Rubble-stone. 1794 T. Davis Agric. Wilts 149 The stone-brash land in the north⁓west part of the district. 1860 Times 4 Jan. 10/5 A flinty soil sucks its surface dry, a thin Stonebrash soil lets the rain run through it.

1827 S. Rodman in B. Swan New Bedford in 1827 (1935) 8 Occupied most of the day at my house lot. Made a further trial of my *stone breaker, the weight raised by a horse. 1843 A. Bethune Scott. Peasant's Fireside 127 My attention was arrested by one of the stonebreakers. 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 355 The cost..has..been..reduced by the introduction of the ‘Blake Stone-Breaker’.

1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 357 We found that we could obtain employment at *stone-breaking. 1873 Spons' Dict. Engin. vii. 2544 Blake's Stone-breaking Machine. 1888 Rutley Rock-Forming Min. 12 Not every kind of hammer..is suitable for stone-breaking.

1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 196/2 *Stone⁓broke. 1888 F. Hume Mme. Midas i. ii, I'm nearly stone broke. 1889 Besant Bell St. Paul's I. 7 The stone-broke sporting man. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Dec. 10/3 There was a hardy war-time story of a stonebroke Digger. 1981 O. Bernier Pleasure & Privilege xii. 197 Naples wasn't exactly short of nobility... Some were stone broke.

1805 Lewis & Clark Orig. Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Expedition (1904) II. 290 We have a lame crew just now,..one with a bad *stone bruise. 1885 Cent. Mag. Nov. 29/1 Angy, who was complaining of a stone-bruise, got up. 1976 T. Walker Spatsizi xi. 122 The continuous descent over rough ground lamed one saddle horse with a stone bruise.

1909 ‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny xxi. 354 Five of my best staff-officers fell, suffering extremely with *stone-bruised heels.

1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. xliv, A set of *stone buckles for the knees and shoes. 1756 A. Murphy Apprentice i. i, Wearing stone⁓buckles, and cocking his hat.

1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 14 [Alum] is found in soft brittle masses, that feel somewhat greasy, and thence called by the Germans *Stone Butter.

1887 H. Bury in Phil. Trans. CLXXIX. ii. 277 The tube thus formed..is the equivalent of the ‘*stone-canal’ of other Echinoderms.

1664 Dr. Smith in Evelyn's Pomona 46 The Cider that is ground in a *Stone-case is generally accused to taste unpleasantly of the Rinds, Stems and Kernels of the Apples. 1664 Pepys Diary 27 Aug., Thence to my case-maker for my stone case. [Cf. 19 Aug. ante..a case, for to keep my stone, that I was cut of, in.]

1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs's Textbk. Bot. ii. 106 The polyhedral *stone-cells (sclerenchyma) in the flesh of pears are arranged in groups. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 540 ‘Stone-cells’ in the external cortex.

1825 J. Nicholson Oper. Mech 479 *Stone⁓china is formed of a compound of Cornish-stone and clay, blue clay, and flint. 1847 Dickens Haunted Man i, It's surprising how stone-chaney catches the heat, this frosty weather.

1827 Higgins Celtic Druids 234 From these stones, the place became called the place of the *stone circle. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. xx, The practice of youths and maidens plighting their troth at the stone circles dedicated, as it was supposed, to Odin. 1901 Scotsman 12 Mar. 4/8 Six distinct varieties of stone circles.

1888, 1934 *Stone cist [see passage grave s.v. passage n. 16 b].

1603 Florio Montaigne iii. xiii. 651 Since I have had the *stone-chollike. 1695 Phil. Trans. XIX. 77 Nephritick Pains, commonly called, the Stone-Colick.

1663 Gerbier Counsel 83 A fair *Stone-colour in oyl. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 193 In a corner in stone colour is a statue of peace. 1808 Fashionable Biogr. 75 Light stone-colour musquito pantaloons. 1894 R. B. Sharpe Birds Gt. Brit. I. 34 In some specimens the ground-colour of the egg is yellowish or creamy stone-colour.

1770 Phil. Trans. LXI. 254 A kind of light *stone-coloured varnish. c 1850 Lytton in Life & Lett. (1883) I. 117 A comely plump matron in a stone-coloured silk gown.

1903 J. R. Harris Dioscuri in Christian Legends 37 We recognized *stonecraft amongst the arts of the Dioscuri. 1931 Catholic Bull. (Dublin) June 578 Metal-work, stone-craft, and architecture.

1861 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 747 *Stone cream of tous les mois{ddd}½ lb. of preserve, 1 pint of milk, 2 oz. of lump sugar, 1 heaped tablespoonful of tous les mois, 3 drops of essence of cloves, 3 drops of almond-flavouring... When rather cool, but before turning solid, pour the cream over the jam. 1973 E. Sprigge Life of Ivy Compton-Burnett v. 78 They liked fish, too, and junket, and that old favourite among puddings, stone cream.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2391/1 *Stone-crusher, a mill for grinding stone or ore. 1912 Blackw. Mag. Aug. 265 These wagons are emptied direct into a stone-crusher.

? 972 Charter of Eadgar in Birch Cartul. Sax. III. 586 Andlang sices to þan *stan ᵹedelfe. 1356 in Owen & Blakeway Hist. Shrewsbury (1825) II. 462 Versus le Whyte stanydelf. 1894 Yorks. Weekly Post, Xmas No. 1, Boggart Hole is a forsaken stone-delf.

1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. xii, In danger of miserably rotting within a *stone Doublet. 1767 Thornton tr. Plautus II. 322 note, He talks of the prison as of a garment; like as the cant-word is with us,..a Stone-doublet. 1775 Jekyll Corr. (1894) 19 A stone doublet, which fathers have a legal right to clap upon their sons for extravagance.

1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 16 b/2 A little *stone-drawer, may be vsed to drawe out a bullet. 1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 19 An ancient experienced Stone drawer.

1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Stone-dresser, one who tools, smooths, and shapes stone for building purposes. 1875 [see stone-cutter 1 b].

1845 Builder 15 Feb. 83/2 *Stone Dressing Machinery. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 728 Constant exposure to dust..as in..stone-dressing.

1810 Southey Kehama xiii. v, Hung Like *stone-drops from the cavern's fretted height.

1896 M. E. Wilkins Madelon xxix. 330 Damned foolishness, that does more harm to the world than the shattering of all the commandments into *stone-dust. 1920 Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 266/2 This fact is taken advantage of to localise explosions in some American mines by mixing the first rush of air with stone-dust.

1930 Engineering 28 Feb. 295/3 *Stone-dusting in coal mines was not considered to be injurious in Poland. 1975 Telegraph (Brisbane) 13 Nov. 16/2 No agreement was reached between union and management on stone dusting Kianga No. 1.

1895 Dublin Rev. Apr. 356 Had Mr. Swinburne been less stone⁓eyed and less *stone-eared.

1820 Scott Monast. Answ. Introd. Ep., The guisards, the *stone-eater and other amusements of the season.

1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 127 The *stone-elements (‘stone-cells’ of the Pharmacologists), so called after the stony bodies in the flesh and stalk of many pears, which are composed of them.

1891 Century Dict., *Stone-engraving. 1911 McEwen Hist. Ch. Scot. I. vii. 144 The Scottish type of Stone-engraving.

1873 M. Blind tr. Strauss' Old Faith & New 231 This *stone-era already bears a certain stamp of civilization.

1807 J. Landseer Lect. Engraving 143 The *Stone-etching is calculated..to render a faithful fac-simile of a painter's sketch.

1890 Hall Caine Bondman i. v, Stephen Orry grew woebegone and *stone-eyed. 1895 [see stone-eared above].

[1850 Hawthorne Great Stone Face in Nat. Era 16 Jan. 16/1 The Great Stone Face, then, was a work of Nature..formed on the perpendicular side of a mountain by some immense rocks, which had been thrown together in such a position, as, when viewed at a proper distance, precisely to resemble the features of a human countenance.] 1949 Life 5 Sept. 82/2 (heading) The great *stone face [of Buster Keaton]. 1960 Newsweek 25 Jan. 90/2 Here is the Great Stone Face on the most famous element of this vanishing art, his dead pan. 1972 J. Mosedale Football iv. 47 Even in high school his classmates called him the ‘Great Stone Face’. 1977 Rolling Stone 21 Apr. 88/3 Only a stoneface could resist smiling.

1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. §310 A third *stonefall occurred at Orgueil, in the south of France, on the..14th of May, 1864. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 26 July 5/3 The mountain this year is more difficult than usual... Stone-falls have been frequent.

1809 *Stone-fence [see cobbler 3]. 1844 ‘Jon. Slick’ High Life New York I. 37, I might as well a been talking to a stun fence. 1856 Kingsley in Life & Lett. xiv. (1879) II. 29 Climbing cliffs, and shoving down stone fences. 1859 Fowler Southern Lights 52 A Stone-fence. Ginger-beer and brandy. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 217 Now he is asked to take a Stone Fence, and now a Railroad, but both are simple whiskey. 1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 20 June 3/2 ‘Stone fence’ is the euphonious cognomen given to whisky which is drunk with cider instead of water.

1906 Jrnl. Geol. XIV. 103, I feel sure that these immense block-fields of Bear Island are formed in quite the same manner as the Falkland stone-runs... The only differences between the two occurrences are differences of topography and age: in Bear Island a great plain forming a *stone-field, in the Falkland Islands valleys filled at the bottom by stone-rivers. 1959 A. McLintock Descr. Atlas N.Z. p. xv, At the timber line there is a locally heavy scrub belt..passing into snow-tussock grasslands, stone-fields, and herb moor. 1978 O. White Silent Reach viii. 87 It gets harder when you hit the..stonefields.

1917 M. T. Hainsselin Grand Fleet Days iv. 15 Where I met her was in a *Stone Frigate—that is to say, a Naval Shore Establishment. 1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 134 Stone frigate, a naval gaol or, more recently, any shore establishment. 1948 Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang. 182 Stone frigates, Royal Naval Barracks or Shore Establishments; they are usually named after the old frigates. 1955 ‘N. Shute’ Requiem for Wren iii. 81 She found that H.M.S. Mastodon was a stone frigate. It was Exbury Hall, about three miles up the Beaulieu River from the Solent. 1979 Mariner's Mirror LXV. 51 H.M.S. Thunderer (our title as a ‘stone frigate’) has since prospered... It is planned amongst other things to produce a book on the history of the college.

1850 Ogilvie, *Stone-gall, the name given by workmen to a roundish mass of clay, often occurring in variegated sandstone. Stone-galls lessen the value of stones for building.

1932 E. Antevs Alpine Zone Mt. Washington Range iv. 62 A balsam fir forest..grows normally up to the *stone garland. 1977 R. J. Small Study of Landforms x. 326 If the slope becomes a little steeper, the ploygons give way to ‘stone garlands’.

1688 Holme Armoury iii. 394/1 The Mattock..is much used with *stone Getters in Quarries. 1870 Inquiry Yorksh. Deaf & Dumb 4 He has been employed as a stone-getter, and stone-dresser.

1936 J. Curtis Gilt Kid iv. 41 It was *stone-ginger, you thought, that you'd get a smashing job up here. 1943 J. A. W. Bennett in Amer. Speech XVIII. 90 ‘That's a stone ginger’ (a dead certainty) conceals the name of a famous and unbeatable horse, Stone Ginger [in New Zealand]. 1972 G. F. Newman You Nice Bastard 348 Stone ginger, a million; certainty.

1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 413/2 Glasse stone, or *stone glasse, which may be cut into very small and thin panes, which in old time they vsed in stead of glasse windowes.

c 1205 Lay. 31881 Þat folc flah in to wuden..leien in þa *stan-graffen. 1878 J. C. Southall Epoch of Mammoth xv. 264 Another find of this sort..occurring in a large stone-grave near Stubnitz. 1883 Science II. 25/1 Mound-builders and stonegrave people.

1235–52 Rentalia Glastonb. (Somerset Rec. Soc.) 224 Henricus Faber pro j *stanegrist xijd. per annum.

1905 Macm. Mag. Nov. 50 It is hoped the public are beginning to insist upon having *stone-ground flour.

1936 Times 19 Oct. 8/4 The chromium-plated radiator has an integral *stoneguard. 1947 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LI. 287/2 The best solution of the problem of the stone guard would be to abolish the guard, and eliminate stones and other refuse by momentum-separation. 1958 Times 22 Sept. 12/6 Superficially it [sc. a motor car] had many attractive qualities..a detachable silver stone⁓guard before the radiator. 1981 Buses Dec. 535/1 This ex-Liverpool Atlantean..has acquired a stone guard in front of the windscreens.

1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 194 *Stone gonnes of yron in the Wast of the seid Shipp.

1411 in Finchale Priory Charters etc. (Surtees) p. clviii, Item ij *stanehammers. Item ij hamers pro sclattis. 1533–4 in W. H. St. John Hope Windsor Castle (1913) I. 264 For iij stone hamors ffor the bryklayers to work wyth{ddd}xviij{supd}. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2398/1 Stone-hammer, a chipping hammer used by stone⁓masons in rough-dressing stone.

1896 Daily News 7 Dec. 12/5 Overseer wanted for Evening and Weekly. Must be a..smart *stone hand. 1921 Stone hand [see imposer b]. 1978 L. Davidson Chelsea Murders xxv. 156 He..was rapidly rewriting lines for the stone-hand.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Stone Harmonicon, a musical instrument consisting of a number of bars or slabs of stone,..played like the dulcimer.

1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 15 To dig till we sink down to the *Stone-head. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining 242 Stone-head. 1. A heading driven in stone. 2. (N.) The first hard stratum met with underlying quicksand.

1892 Labour Commission Gloss., *Stone Headings, Drivages other than coal formed in stone.

1569 T. Norton Warn. agst. Papists A ij, He is obstinately *stone harted. 1640 J. Taylor (Water P.) Differing Worships 9 St. Steven..prayd..For his stone-hearted stony enemies. 1899 Daily News 11 Oct. 8/4, I would not be stone-hearted.

1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxxii. 46 Tyled, or *stone healed houses. Ibid. ii. iii. 151 Olde walles & stonehilled houses.

1623 G. Markham Eng. Housew. 47 Take the iuice of red Fennell, and the iuyce of Sen greene and *stone hony, and mixe them very well together. 1623 C. Butler Fem. Mon. vi. (1634) 108 While it continueth liquid,..it is called Live-hony, when it is turned white and hard (euen like unto sugar) it is called Corn-hony, or Stone-hony. 1814 tr. Klaproth's Trav. Cauc. 263 The stone-honey..is dissolved in water, and drunk. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 14 Apr. 4/1 The Chinese histories of 1,800 years ago,..frequently speak of ‘stone honey’ as coming from Tonquin and the various States of India.

1396–7 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 214, 1 par de *stanhokes. 1426–7 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 66 A peire stone hokis.

1926 *Stone kist [see round barrow s.v. round a. 15 a]. 1980 D. K. Cameron Willie Gavin vi. 54 There was hardly a year when the winter ploughs did not turn up an old hunter..crouched still in his cold stone-kist.

1875 E. A. Davidson House-painting, etc. 1 A *Stone Knife.

1562 in Archæologia XXXVI. 301 To one other *stone leyere for .x. dayes,..iiij s. ij d. 1669 Canterb. Marriage Licences (MS.), John Mathewes,..stonelayer.

1562 in Archæologia XXXVI. 302 In Masonrye worke and *stone leynge. 1898 J. T. Fowler Durham Cathedral 22 On the occasion of the stone-laying.

1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 867/1 *Stone lifter. Shepherd's lifter..has a pair of eccentric lever griping jaws, pivoted in a frame. 1898 Morris Austral Eng. 441 Stone-lifter, a Melbourne name for the fish Kathetostoma læve.

1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 86 The *Stone-Lime is much the best for Land. 1847 A. Smeaton Builder's Man. 27 Builders are accustomed..to use more sand with stone-lime than with chalk-lime.

1938 C. F. S. Sharpe Landslides & Related Phenomena iii. 24 This layer [of rock fragments] outcrops in natural and artificial cuts and marks the approximate boundary between the base of..the ‘B’ horizon of the soil and the ‘C’ horizon or parent rock material. Where well developed it appears as a broken line of stones suggesting the name *stone-line here used. 1969 C. Ollier Weathering iv. 46 The profiles in many tropical countries have rock..overlain by a stone line, overlain in turn by fairly uniform, fine grained ‘soil’. 1975 R. V. Ruhe Geomorphology vii. 127/3 A stone-line surface usually differs topographically from the present land surface.

1818 Art Bookbinding 82 *Stone marble.

1681 Grew Musæum iii. §iii. iii. 347 *Stone Marrow. Stenomarga Agricolæ, i.e. Saxi Medulla: because found between the Commissures of great Stones. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 771 Spongy limestone, usually called Agaric mineral, stone marrow, etc.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2398/2 *Stone-mill.

1901 Daily Chron. 7 Aug. 7/6 Bread composed of *stone-milled flour.

1687 *Stone-Mushromes [see stone-shrub].

1469–70 in Swayne Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896) 13 Et in iiij m'l clauis voc' *stone nayle occupatis supra Capellam be' Marie. 1586 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 31 For a quarterone of a thousand of stone nalles, vj{supd}. 1612 Ibid. 201 Twoe hundreth of stone naile for the leades, vij{supd}. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 300/1 Stone Nails, or Lath Nails.

1949 Jrnl. Geol. LVII. 143 *Stone nets, stone stripes, and soil stripes have formed on high, flat erosion surfaces..in the Wind River Mountains, Wyoming. 1977 D. & V. Weyman Landscape Processes iv. 69/2 Stripes are found on slopes above 4° and seem to be stone nets elongated by downslope movements of slope debris.

1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 721 This bitumen [found at Bechelbronn (Bas Rhin)]..is known in the neighbourhood under the name of *stone oil. 1880 Janvier Practical Keramics 154 The proportions..for the best glaze are about ten of petrosilex and water (stone-oil) to one of lime and water (fern oil, lime oil).

1969 E. Watson tr. Tricart's Geomorphol. of Cold Environments ii. ii. 109 Moist Climates with Severe Winters: Mountain Type... Stone polygons and stone stripes (as well as *stone pavements, which are typical), are fairly frequent. 1977 D. & V. Weyman Landscape Processes iii. 52/1 In general, desert surfaces show only a shallow weathering layer. Bare rock outcrops are common and many other areas have a stone pavement of coarse material.

1849 W. J. Thoms tr. Worsade's Primeval Antiq. Denmark ii. iii. 106 The cromlechs of the *stone-period. 1864 J. Hunt tr. Vogt's Lect. Man xii. 342 The Lapps present..in their cranial structure a greater affinity with the stone-period people than with the Romanic-type. 1880 Dawson Fossil Man i. (1883) 11 A still earlier Stone period, that more properly named the Palæolithic, appears to be indicated by [etc.].

c 1325 in Kennett's Par. Antiq. (1818) I. 570 Quatuor rodæ terræ jacent super le *Staneputtes. 1525 in Archæologia XXV. 478 For dyggyng of xliiij lode of stone & for makyng of the stone pytte. a 1728 Woodward Nat. Hist. Fossils i. (1729) 107 Found frequently in the Stone-pits about Oxford. 1859 Sporting Mag. Jan. 4 [The fox] went to ground in a stone-pit.

1676 Phil. Trans. XI. 736 In a Mine where the *Stone-plants grow. 1883 Stevenson Silverado Squatters 236 About the spurs of the tall pine, a red flowering stone-plant hung in clusters.

1818–20 E. Thompson Cullen's Nosol. Meth. (ed. 3) 332 Acne; *Stone Pock. 1822–9 Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) V. 584 When this species becomes inflamed, it lays a foundation for a varus or stone-pock.

1704 Collect. Voyages & Trav. III. 656/1 The *Stone-Polishers make them thinner.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Stone-polishing Machine, a machine for giving the final dressing and gloss to the surface of stone.

1924 Huxley & Odell in Geogr. Jrnl. LXIII. 208 We propose here to style the two forms ‘*stone-polygons’ and ‘fissure-polygons’ respectively. The stone-polygons are represented at one extreme by isolated stone-circles, while at the other they may become drawn out into a series of elongated mud-strips, separated by strips of stone. 1950 [see patterned ppl. a. b]. 1970 R. J. Small Study of Landforms x. 327 The reason why stone polygons as a whole vary so much in size (their diameters range from 0·5 to 15 metres) is not understood.

1819 J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1857) I. 260, I called..at a *stoneprinter's in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

1896 N. Munro Lost Pibroch (1902) 70 A *stone-put further.

1924 Geol. Mag. LXI. 509 (heading) Formation of ‘*stone rings’ in rocks which are being shattered by frost action. 1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring i. vii. 141 The stone-rings upon the hills. 1957 J. K. Charlesworth Quarternary Era I. xxvii. 572 The severer frost in the lower, sodden layers produces the finer material and brings it to the surface, pushing the coarser to the sides. The stone-rings so produced grow outwards from their centres to build a polygonal network. 1980 Sci. Amer. July 67/1 As a result the term now coming into favour as a description of these megalithic enclosures is stone ring.

1877 C. W. Thomson Atlantic II. iv. 246 At the mouth of the valley the section of the ‘*stone river’ exposed by the sea is like that of a stone drain on a huge scale. 1894 J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age (ed. 3) xl. 723, I do not think there can be much doubt that the ‘stone-rivers’ of the Falkland Islands are of the same nature and origin as the rubble-drifts already described in connection with the glacial phenomena of Europe. 1956 W. Edwards in D. L. Linton Sheffield 20 Newer Drift... This is well developed on the hillsides in the Millstone Grit country—for example, on Burbage Moor..—its content of large gritstone blocks betraying its presence, especially where these are concentrated in ‘stone-rivers’. 1969 C. Ollier Weathering xii. 214 Block-streams (stone rivers) also have sharp edged and angular blocks, and occur in the same areas as blockfields.

c 1200 Vices & Virtues 45 For us eft to warnin wið ðo *stan⁓roches of ðe harde hierte.

1906 Jrnl. Geol. XIV. 101 The large old *stone-runs of the Falkland Islands evidently were formed in a period of the past with a climate more severe than the present. 1950 Geol. Mag. LXXXVII. 106 The stone runs of the Falklands extend over a greater area than is at present exposed, since they are masked by vegetation.

1843 Holtzapffel Turning I. 169 The *stone-saw, a smooth iron blade fed with sand and water. 1890 ‘ M. Rutherford’ Miriam's Schooling etc. 155 He sat at one end of the heavy stone-saw, with David Trevenna, at the other.

1845 G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. IV. 17 If we watch..a *stone-sawyer, we shall.. see that the saw frequently ‘jars’.

1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 540 The formation of *stone-sclerenchyma.

1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 166 We bought of these poor Greeks several stone-Mushromes, which in that place are got out of the Red-sea; as also small *Stone-shrubs, or branches of Rock, which they call white Coral.

1530 Palsgr. 706/1, I sclate a house with *stone slates, je couuers de pierre. 1880 Sir E. Beckett Bk. Building (ed. 2) 183 In some places a thin kind of stone slates are used,..they make picturesque roofs but rather heavy.

1882 E. G. Hooper Man. Brewing (ed. 2) 237 There is another system of fermentation..known as the *stone-square system. The fermenting tank here is a large square, constructed of stone. 1888 F. Faulkner Mod. Brewing (ed. 2) 187 The original closed box, denominated a Yorkshire stone square.

1611 Bible 1 Kings v. 18 And Solomons builders, and Hirams builders, did hewe them, and the *stone-squarers.

1934 Proc. Geologists' Assoc. XLV. 174 Fig. 24.. shows the *stone-stripes in cross section one to two inches thick lying in shallow depressions in the clay-loam. 1978 A. L. Bloom Geomorphology xv. 363 Like sorted polygons, stone stripes require active freeze-thaw processes but are not restricted to regions of permafrost.

1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §235 The cement chimney shafts to be coloured..of a good warm *stone tint.

1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 105/2 That called in England by the name of *stone-turf contains a considerable proportion of peat.

1915 H. R. Hall Anc. Hist. Near East ii. 32 The earlier Greeks..were still *stone-users.

1870 Greenwell in Jrnl. Ethnol. Soc. (N.S.) II. 420 The supply of flint [at Grime's Graves], in itself a mine of wealth to a *stone-using people.

c 1500 Rowlis Cursing 61 in Laing Anc. Poet. Scot., The *stane-wring, stane and stane blind.

1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Stone-yard, a contractor's or other yard where paupers are set to break stones. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped xiii. 115 If I had kent of these reefs..it's not sixty guineas..would have made me risk my brig in sic a stoneyard! 1899 A. C. Benson Life Abp. Benson I. v. 161 A small walled garden..with a rockery of broken carvings from the stone-yards.

    b. In names of animals, as stone-bass, † (a) a fish of the genus Pagrus, found in the West Indies; (b) a fish of the genus Polyprion (family Serranidæ), characterized by a bony ridge on the operculum, and serrated spines on the anal and ventral fins; stone-bird, (a) the vinous grosbeak = moro³; (b) = stone-snipe (a); stone-biter, (a) the hawfinch; (b) Orkney and Shetland the common cat-fish or wolf-fish [= Icel. steinb{iacu}tr, Da. stenbider, Norw. steinbit, Du. steenbijter (Kilian)]; stone-borer, a bivalve mollusc that bores into stones or rocks; stone-cat, a N. American freshwater cat-fish of the genus Noturus; stone-centipede, a centipede of the family Lithobiidæ, found in stony places; stone-coral, hard or sclerodermatous (as distinguished from sclerobasic), or massive (as distinguished from branching) coral; stone-crab, (a) name for various species of crab (see quots.); (b) applied locally in U.S. to the dobson or hellgrammite, the larva of a neuropterous insect, used as a bait in angling; stone-crawfish, a European species of crawfish or crayfish, Astacus torrentium; stone-cricket, a wingless insect of the genus Ceuthophilus or other genera of Locustidæ, found under or among stones; stone curlew, see curlew 3; stone-eater, = stone-borer; stone falcon [G. steinfalke (Gesner)], a name for the merlin; stone-fish, a name for various fishes harbouring under stones (see quots.); esp. the highly venomous Synanceja verrucosa, of the family Scorpænidæ, a bottom-dwelling fish resembling a small rock, found in tropical seas and bearing venom glands at the base of the dorsal fin spines; stone-flower = stone-lily; stone-fox [= Du. steenvos], the Arctic fox, Canis lagopus; † stone-grig [grig n.¹ 3], local name for a species of eel or lamprey; stone hawk = stone falcon; stone-lifter (see 20 a); stone-loach, a species of loach, Cobitis barbatula; stone-lugger = stone roller; stone-marten, the beech-marten (Mustela foina), or its fur; stone-owl, U.S. the saw-whet owl, Nyctala acadica, which frequents quarries or rocks; stone-pecker (Sc. stane-), local name for the turnstone, and for the purple sandpiper, Tringa striata or maritima; stone-perch, a small fish allied to the perch (= pope n.¹ 6, ruff n.¹ 2); stone-piercer = stone-borer; stone-plover, see plover 2; stone roller, name for two N. American fresh-water fishes (see quots., and cf. stone-lugger and stone-toter); stone-runner, a name for the ringed plover, or the dotterel; also applied to some species of sandpiper; stone-snipe, (a) the stone-curlew, Œdicnemus scolopax; (b) a large N. American bird of the snipe family, Totanus melanoleucus; also applied to other species of Totanus; stone-sponge, a lithistid sponge; stone-sucker, a fish belonging or allied to the genus Petromyzon, a lamprey (see the etymologies of these words); stone-thrush, a local name of the missel-thrush; † stone-tivet [? tewhit], ? the lapwing; stone-toter [tote v.], a N. American fresh-water fish, Catostomus or Hypentelium nigricans, also called stone-lugger or stone-roller (see quot. 1817); also applied to the genus Exoglossum. See also stonebuck, stonechat, stone-fly, stonehatch, stone-smatch.

1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 12 There is another Fish they call a *Stone-Bass,..of a Colour sandy, but has a Relish equal to our Soles. 1725 Sloane Jamaica II. 286 Pagrus totus argenteus..A Stone-Basse. This is taken in all the Rivers of this Island,..they are altogether of a white Colour, and are..one of the best sort of Fish they have in Jamaica. 1822 Couch in Trans. Linn. Soc. XIV. 81 Sciæna... Stone Basse—This species, which is common in more southern latitudes..approaches the Cornish coast under peculiar circumstances. When a piece of timber covered with Barnacles is brought by the currents from the regions which these fishes inhabit, considerable numbers of them sometimes accompany it. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 270 Special Line,..used in fishing for Stone Bass or Wreck-fish.

1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 157 There are in the Cape countries great numbers of Haw-Finches... They are call'd likewise *Stone-Biters. 1743 Phil. Trans. XLII. 612 Other Fish, as Sharks, Holly-butts,..Stone-biters.

1854 A. Adams etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 153 *Stone-borers (Saxicavidæ).

1882 Jordan & Gilbert Syn. Fishes N. Amer. 97 Noturus, *Stone Cats.

1854 A. Adams etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 266 *Stone-Centipedes (Lithobiidæ).

1880 F. P. Pascoe Zool. Classif. 32 Sclerodermata. (*Stone-corals.)

1713 Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ Tab. i, Cancer saxatilis..*Stone Crab. 1853 T. Bell Stalk-eyed Crustacea 165 Northern Stone-crab. Lithodes Maia. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 772 The Stone Crab, Menippe mercenarius,..is one of the two edible species of Crabs occurring upon the Southern Atlantic coast of the United States.

1815 S. Brookes Conchol. 157 *Stone Eater. Mytilus lithophagus. 1854 Woodward Mollusca ii. 243 The boring shell-fish have been called ‘stone-eaters’ (lithophagi).

1656 Blount Glossogr., *Stonefaulcon (Lithofalcus..) so called from the stones and rocks where she eyries, or builds her nest. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. ii. ix. 80 The Stone-Falcon,..Falco Lapidarius. 1862 Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. II. 77 The Merlin..from this habit of perching on pieces of stone..has derived the name of Stone Falcon.

1668 Charleton Onomast. 135 Alphestes..Belgis Stein-Fish, i.e. *Stone-fish. 1710 Sibbald Hist. Fife 51 Gunnellus Cornubiensium, the Butter Fish of the English, our Fishers call it the Stone-fish. 1881 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. I. 204 Shanny or shan:..Stone-fish, Parnell. 1896 Strand Mag. XII 354/2 Another fish that is unpleasant to meet is that known as the stone-fish. It is small,..but its bite is poisonous. Apparently, it makes its home under the pearl shell, for it is only when picking up a shell that a diver is bitten. 1908 E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber i. iv. 143 Beware of the stone fish.., the death adder of the sea. 1947 I. L. Idriess Isles of Despair xxxv. 234 The lancet of the hideous little stone fish in his salamander coat. 1971 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 20 June 5/2 The ugliest fish in the sea (and one of the most dangerous) is the stonefish.

1847 Ansted Anc. World iii. 49 The simple forms of the crinoids or *stone-flowers.

1832 J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle 48 Through the night the hungry *stone-fox howls. 1884 Chamb. Jrnl. 5 Jan. 10/1 The stone-foxes and wolverines having destroyed the povision depôts.

1666 Merrett Pinax 188 Lampetra parva fluviatilis..Herefordiensibus, a *Stone Grig.

1736 Ainsworth, The *stone hawk, lithofalco. 1863 H. G. Adams Birds of Prey 46 The Merlin..makes its..nest..in the holes generally amid pieces of rock, hence one of its common names, Stone or Rock Hawk.

1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 697 When he essay'd to war on dace, bleak, bream, *stone-loach or pike. 1883 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. II. 204 Stone-loach, due to its fondness for secreting itself beneath a stone.

1882 Jordan & Gilbert Syn. Fishes N. Amer. 130 Catostomus nigricans, Stone Roller, Hammer-head; *Stone lugger. Ibid. 149 Campostoma anomalum, Stone-roller; Stone-lugger.

1841 J. H. Fennell Nat. Hist. Quadrupeds 106 note, Besides beech marten, it is called *stone marten, martern, marteron, martlett, and mouse-hunt. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 463/1 Stone Marten..This fur is much esteemed throughout Europe.

1869–73 T. R. Jones Cassell's Bk. Birds II. 87 The *Stone Owls (Athene). Ibid. The Stone Owl Proper (Athene noctua). 1904 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 17 Sept. 644 Transformations undergone by a blood parasite of the stone-owl when taken into the stomach of a mosquito.

1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 157 The *Stone-pecker. The Dutch call this Bird Strand Loper, i.e. Shore-Courser. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 187 Turnstone..Stanepecker (Shetland Isles). Ibid. 194 Purple Sandpiper (Tringa striata)..Stanepecker (Shetland Isles).

1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 2 The *Stone-perch, Pope, Ruffe,..which somewhat resembles the Perch,..is..not found in America.

1713 Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ Tab. 19/13 Pholas..*Stone Peircer.

1768 Pennant Brit. Zool. (1776) I. 293 This [red-headed Linnet] seems to be the species known about London under the name of *stone redpoll. 1802 Montagu Ornith. Dict., s.v. Redpole, Lesser, Numbers [are] frequently taken about London..: it is there called Stone Redpole.

1878 C. Hallock Sportsman's Gaz. 386 The ‘stone toter’, or ‘*stone roller’, is a far better variety. 1882 Stone Roller [see stone-lugger].

1681 Grew Musæum i. §4 iv. 77 The Egg of a *Stonerunner. 1802 Montagu Ornith. s.v., Stone-runner, many of the Sandpipers so called. 1849 Zoologist VII. 2392 The ringed plovers are ‘stone-runners’.

1785 Pennant Arct. Zool. II. 468 *Stone Snipe. With a black bill: head, neck, and breast spotted with black and white... Double the size of a Snipe. 1864 Webster, Stone-snipe,..a large snipe (Gambella melanoleuca), common in the United States. 1887 Cassell's Encycl. Dict., Stone-snipe, stone-curlew,..Œdicnemus scolopax.

1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., Petromyzon, the *stone sucker,..a genus..comprehending the lamprey, etc. 1851 Gosse Nat. Hist., Fishes 319 Petromyzonidæ. (Stone-suckers.)

1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 2 Missel Thrush... *Stone thrush (Dorset).

1579 Hake Newes out of Powles iv. (1872) D ij b, *Stonetiuets, Teale, and Pecteales good, with Busterds fat and plum.

1817 Paulding Lett. fr. South (Bartlett), The most singular fish in this part..is..the *Stone-toter, whose brow is surmounted with several little sharp horns, by the aid of which he totes small flat stones..in order to make a snug little inclosure for his lady. 1868 Sir J. Richardson etc. Mus. Nat. Hist. II. 123 The species of Exoglossum are named ‘Stone-toters,’ because they pile up little heaps of small stones, among which they deposit their spawn.

    c. In names of plants (either growing in stony places, or having some part hard like stone), or their fruits, etc.: as † stone apple = stone pippin; stone basil, the wild basil, Calamintha Clinopodium, or basil-thyme, C. Acinos; stone-beech, a variety of the common beech (see quot.); stone-berry, the dwarf cornel of N. America, Cornus canadensis; stone-brake, the rock-brake or parsley-fern, Allosorus crispus; stone bramble, a species of bramble, Rubus saxatilis, growing in stony places, with bright red fruit; stone-clover = hare's-foot 1; stone-fern, Asplenium Ceterach; also applied to other ferns growing in stony places (see quots.); † stone-grape, ? a grape with stones or hard seeds; stone-leek, the rock or Welsh onion, Allium fistulosum; in quot. 1904 app. misused for houseleek; stone-lichen, any lichen growing on stones or rocks; spec. Parmelia saxatilis (= staneraw); stone liverwort = liverwort 1; stone-mint, the American dittany, Cunila Mariana; † stone-moss, ? the orchil lichen, Roccella tinctoria; stone orpine, Sedum reflexum; † stone-pepper, an old name for stonecrop; † stone pippin, a variety of apple (? with hard fruit); stone-root, a N. American aromatic labiate herb, Collinsonia canadensis, also called horse-balm or rich-weed; † stone-rue, an old name for the fern wall-rue, Asplenium Ruta-muraria; stone-seed, English rendering of Lithospermum, a genus of Boraginaceæ, so called from their hard ‘seeds’ or capsules; stone-turnip, a variety of turnip; stone-weed, (a) = stone-seed; (b) local name for knotgrass, Polygonum aviculare; (c) ? a weed growing on stone or rock; stonewood, name for various trees with very hard wood (see quots.), or the wood itself. See also stonebreak, stonecrop, etc.

1741 Compl. Family-Piece ii. iii. 383 Apples. [July.] Deux Ans or John Apple, *Stone Apple, Oaken Pin.

1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxiii. 548 Acynos. *Stone Basill. 1886 Britten & Holland Plant-n., Basil, Field, Stone, or Wild. Book⁓names for Calamintha Clinopodium and C. Acinos.

1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 532 An..individual variation in those stems of Fagus silvatica occasionally occurring which are called *Stone-beeches, and are conspicuous from their thick, furrowed bark.

1837 P. H. Gosse in Life (1890) 107 Here the scarlet *stoneberry (Cornus Canadensis) was abundant.

1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 304 Stone Fern. Crisped Fern. Parsley Fern. *Stone Brakes.

1744 J. Wilson Synopsis Brit. Plants 117 Chamærubus saxatilis... The *Stone-bramble, or Raspis.

1552 Huloet, *Stoneferne herbe, Asplenium, Citrac, Scolopendra. 1777 Jacob Catal. Plants 38 Pteris aquilina, Small-branched Stone-Fern. 1796 [see stone-brake]. 1820 T. Green Univ. Herbal II. 218 Osmunda Crispa; Curled Osmunda, or Stone Fern. 1863 Prior Plant-n., Stone-fern, from its growth on stone-walls, Ceterach officinarum.

c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 810/17 Hic acinus, a *stongrape.

1866 Treas. Bot. 40/2 The Welsh Onion..is a native of Siberia and certain parts of Russia, where it is known as the Rock Onion, or *Stone Leek. 1904 A. C. Benson House of Quiet (1910) 164 The stone-leek on the roof of mellowed barns. 1861 *Stone lichen [see staneraw].

1854–67 *Stone-mint [see dittany 5].

1681 Grew Musæum iii. §ii. i. 326 The several Styriæ or Capillary parts..growing together almost like those of the little *Stone-Moss. 1763 in 6th Rep. Dep. Kpr. Publ. Rec. App. ii. 132 Making Orchell from Rock or Stone Moss. 1777 Robson Brit. Flora 318 Byssus aurea... Saffron Byssus. Silken Stone-moss. 1866 *Stone Orpine [see stonehore].

1597 Gerarde Herbal Tables Eng. Names, Stone hore, that is *Stonepepper, or Stone crop.

1767 Abercrombie Ev. Man his own Gardener (1803) 671/2 Apples..Kirtin pippin, *Stone pippin.

1848 Bartlett Dict. Amer. 335 *Stone-root, a plant used in medicine. Its properties are diuretic and stomachic. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 399 The Stone-Root (Collinsonia canadensis), the flowers of which have an odor like lemons, is also known as Rich Weed from this fragrance.

1548 Turner Names Herbes 86 Saluia vita or Ruta muralis..maye be called in english *Stone Rue, or wal Rue. 1578 Lyte Dodoeus iii. lxviii. 408 Ruta Muraria, Stone Rue, or Wall Rue.

1833 Wauldby Farm Rep. 105 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, The variety called the white *stone turnip.

1847 Darlington Amer. Weeds 243 Field Lithospermum. *Stone weed. Gromwell... Formerly a reputed cure for the stone in the bladder, from the stony-like appearance of its seeds. 1847 Halliwell, Stoneweed, knot-grass. Suffolk. 1913 M. Hewlett in Engl. Rev. Mar. 534 Her garment..seemed to grow upon her as a creeping stone-weed grows.

1863 Bates Nat. Amazon ix. 238 A suitable canoe..of about six tons' burthen, strongly built of Itaüba or *stone-wood, a timber of which all the best vessels in the Amazons country are constructed. 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Plants Australia 390 Callistemon salignus..‘Stonewood’. Ibid. 604 Tarrietia argyrodendron..‘Stonewood’.

    
    

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     Add: [5.] k. A round piece or counter, orig. made of stone, used in various board games, esp. the Japanese game of go (see go n.², and sense 13 below).

1890 B. H. Chamberlain Things Japanese 137 Nineteen straight lines crossing each other at right angles make three hundred and sixty-one me, or crosses... These may be occupied by a hundred and eighty white and a hundred and eighty-one black stones (ishi..). 1975 Way to Play 22/1 Each player [in backgammon] has 15 pieces... The pieces are variously known as ‘counters’, ‘stones’, or ‘men’. 1989 New Yorker 6 Feb. 26/3 Go..is played with round black and white pieces, called ‘stones’, on a grid.

    
    

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     ▸ stone-baked adj. baked in a stone oven or (esp. of bread or pizza) on a hot, flat stone.

1858 Southern Lit. Messenger Dec. 473/1 From the first *stone-baked roots and plants,..to the rich viands..under which our tables smile today. 1929 Hayward (Calif.) Rev. 19 Mar. 1/6 Bread varied in form from the crude stone-baked disks of early efforts to the light, scientifically compounded loaves of today. 2004 Farang May 64/1 Easily the best deal on Italian chow going in these parts, Nino's has the ‘only stone-baked pizza’ in town.

    
    

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     ▸ stone oven n. an oven in which food is cooked over hot stones.

1789 tr. J.-C. Laveaux Life Frederick II II. 55 In all the villages *stone ovens are now to be met with, and particular places set apart for drying their flax, hemp, and fruits. 1850 J. S. Jenkins Voy. U.S. Exploring Squadron xvi. 412 For cooking, the natives have stone ovens built above the ground, and they roast the bread-fruit on hot-stones. 1952 Denton (Maryland) Jrnl. 17 Oct. 12/1 Herr Hofer had a large fire burning in the huge stone oven to get it hot. 2002 J. Eugenides Middlesex iv. 440, I watch the bread baker in the döner restaurant downstairs. He bakes bread in a stone oven like those they used to have in Smyrna.

▪ II. stone, v.
    (stəʊn)
    Forms: see prec.; also (Sc. and north.) 4 stain, 6 staan, staen.
    [Early ME. stānen, f. stān stone n. Cf. steen v.]
    1. a. trans. To throw stones at, pelt with stones; esp. to put to death by pelting with stones.

c 1200 Ormin 1968 Ȝho munnde affterr þe laȝheboc To dæþe ben istanedd. a 1300 Cursor M. 19456 Þar-for on steuen all þai stert, Þai draf him vte o tun allan, And þai demed him to stain. 1382 Wyclif Exod. xvii. 4 What shal Y do to this puple? ȝit a litil while, and it shal stonen me. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) x. 40 Þe kirke of saynt Steuen, whare he was staned to deed. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb.) 142 Ysay prophete was sawen and stonyd was Jeremye. 1535 Coverdale Matt. xxi. 35 The huszbandmen caught his seruauntes: one they bett,..the thirde they stoned. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 123 Gif a Sou eit his ȝoung, stane him [L. lapidibus obruito], and eit nocht his flesche. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 807 Some say hee shall be ston'd: but that death is too soft for him (say I). 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxx. II. 149 Cowards were stoned to death. 1843 Lytton Last Bar. i. vi, Were he to walk the streets, they would stone him. 1909 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 367/2 Henry splashed about in the shallows, stoning the little fishes.

    b. In colloq. phr. stone the crows: see crow n.¹ 3 d. Similarly stone me: an exclamation of astonishment.

1961 Simpson & Galton Hancock 38 Tony: Any room for a littl'un? (Laugh). They stare at him frostily. Tony (laugh dries): Cor, stone me. 1967 Listener 21 Dec. 815/2 Mrs. Dale speaks. ‘Why hello, Jim—Cor, stone me, what a booze up we had last night up the BMA.’ 1979 J. Wainwright Tension 183 Stone me!—next thing I know I have a..hand-grenade here in my pocket.

    † 2. To turn into stone, or make hard like stone; to petrify. (Chiefly fig.) Obs.

1604 Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 63 O periur'd woman, thou do'st stone my heart. 1634 Habington Castara (Arb.) 38 Till I shall see That heart so ston'd and frozen, thaw'd in thee. 1853 E. S. Sheppard C. Auchester II. 64 When André looked up, he..seemed almost stoned with surprise.

    3. a. To furnish or fit with stones; to pave, or build up, with stone or stones. (See also quot. 1877.) Also, to cover or shut up with stones (also fig.).

1600 Weakest goeth to Wall C 3, Were your streets through ston'd with Dyamonds. 1703 S. Sewall Diary 16 Apr. (1879) II. 77 He is stoning the Cellar. 1877 E. Leigh Cheshire Gloss. 201 To stone a road, is to put large stones or boulders on the road, to force carriages, carts and horses to go over the fresh laid metal, instead of the beaten part of the road. A dangerous but general custom in Cheshire. 1889 V. McNabb Let. 24 Apr. in F. Valentine Father Vincent McNabb (1955) i. ii. 62 Every little fountain of grief seems stoned up. 1890 Church Bells 3 Jan. 80/1 The vacant space above and at the sides being stoned in. 1893 Baring-Gould Cheap Jack Zita II. xvii. 72 When a highway has been new stoned. 1953 A. Bryant Story of England iii. 68 His [sc. Jesus'] body had vanished from the tomb in which it had been stoned up.

    † b. To administer stones to (a falcon) as a purgative. Obs.

1618 Latham New Bk. Falconry (1633) 147 They be as hard Hawkes as any be, and must bee stoned and set to a sound stomacke when they should flie.

    c. (with out) ? To displace by stone. nonce-use.

1858 Hawthorne Fr. & Ital. Note-bks. (1871) II. 58 The earth, I think, is too much stoned out of the streets of an Italian city—paved..quite across, with broad flagstones.

    4. To rub or polish with a stone; to sharpen on a whetstone; in Leather Manuf. to scour and smooth with a stock-stone.

1688 [see stoning vbl. n. 3]. 1878 Mrs. H. Wood Pomeroy Ab. ii. xvii, I was on my hands and knees, stoning the passage flags. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 201 Brass services are generally ‘stoned’ preparatory to polishing, that is, rubbed square with a blue stone or water of Ayr stone and water or oil. 1885 H. R. Procter Tanning 183 In the Lancashire district, butts are generally..‘stoned’, so as to remove the whole of the bloom. 1885 Stevenson Child's Gard. Verses (1895) 83 When the scythe is stoned again.

    5. To take the stones out of (ground); to clear or free from stones. ? Obs.

c 1475 Cath. Angl. 359/2 (Addit. MS.), To Stane, depetrare, petras remouere. 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 46 It needeth not after to be weeded or stoned. 1628 [see stoning vbl. n. 4].

    † 6. To deprive of the testicles, castrate, geld. Obs.

1584 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 20 The smith of Ecclestone for stoninge work horsies, xvj{supd}.

    7. To take the stones out of (fruit): see prec. 12.

1639 O. Wood Alph. Bk. Secrets 19 With..a few Raysins of the Sun stoned. 1665 W. Hughes Compl. Vineyard 17 This way you may also make Gooseberry Wine,..Wine of Plumbs, &c., but these last must be stoned. 1675 H. Woolley Gentlew. Comp. 187 Goosberries.., cut off their heads and stone them. 1709 W. King Art of Love v. 703 Stoning currants in whole bunches. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 241 Stone a pound and a half of cherries. 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery (ed. 2) 416 The peaches and apricots should be merely skinned, halved, and stoned. 1874 Mrs. H. Wood Mast. Greylands xix. 225 With not a raisin in the house stoned for plum-pudding!

    8. intr. Of a fruit (drupe): To form a stone in the process of growth.

1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 479 A few days before, and a few days after, the crops begin to stone, is the most critical period in forcing. Ibid. 592 The peach border will require occasional watering,..but water ought to be withheld when it is stoning and when it is ripening. 1852 Beck's Florist 176 The fruit sets well and stones freely.

    9. a. To become intoxicated with drink or drugs (with out, to the point of unconsciousness). b. trans. To render intoxicated or (fig.) ecstatic. Also refl. Chiefly as (ppl.) a.: see stoned ppl. a. and a. 7. slang (orig. U.S.).

1952 G. Mandel Flee Angry Strangers 139 I'd rather stay with the tea. It's great pod. I don't want to stone out. 1959 Jazz Fall 290, I heard Phineas Newborn play ‘I'll Remember April’ two Mondays ago at The Five Spot and he completely stoned me. a 1961 T. Capote in Webster (1961) s.v., Planned to stone himself with vodka. 1972 J. Brown Chancer iii. 38 You smoke Egyptian Black, that will stone you out of your head.

▪ III. stone
    obs. form of stun v.
▪ IV. stone
    obs. Sc. pa. pple. of steal v.

Oxford English Dictionary