standing stone
[standing ppl. a.]
A large block of stone set upright; a menhir, monolith.
| ? c 1200 Newminster Cartul. (Surtees) 36 Et j acram versus le north de Standenstan. 13.. Childh. Jesus 842 in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LXXIV. 338 In a Mowntayne he gane it hele Reghte in a standande stane. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 298 He..left him thus besyde the standand stanys. 1601 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 391/2 Ane lang standand stane quhilk standis in direct line betuix the said Sadill-stane and the utter merche stane. 1814 Scott Diary 7 Aug. in Lockhart (1837) III. iv. 158 Ride down the loch to Scalloway... Pass a huge standing stone, or pillar. Here, it is said, the son of an old Earl of the Orkneys met his fate. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) I. v. 130 The most primitive of these ancient memorials are the unhewn columns, or standing stones, as they are called. |