limestone
(ˈlaɪmstəʊn)
[f. lime n.1 + stone.]
a. A rock which consists chiefly of carbonate of lime, and yields lime when burnt. (The crystalline variety of limestone is marble.)
| 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 6 b, Yet may he laufully..selle..fre stonne, lyme stone, chalke,..or tynne, to his owne vse. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth (1723) 10 Free-stone, Ragg-stone, Lime-stone. 1707 Mortimer Husb. vi. 95 Any soft Stone as Firestone, Limestone, etc., if broke small, and laid on cold Lands, must be of advantage. 1813 Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 86 No organic remains are found in the crystalline lime-stone. |
b. A species (or
† a specimen) of this rock.
| 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. May (1679) 17 Having before put some rubbish of Lime-stones, pebbles, shells..or the like at the bottom of the Cases, to make the moisture passage. 1742 Lond. & Country Brew. i. (ed. 4) 57 Others are said to make Use of Lime-stones to fine and preserve the Drink. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 6 By simple chemical tests the nature of a limestone is discovered in a few minutes. 1833 Lyell Elem. Geol. (1865) 395 One of the limestones of the Middle Oolite. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 774 When the kiln is to be set in action, it is filled with rough limestones. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 118 All limestones from the softest chalk to the hardest marble consists essentially of carbonate of lime. |
c. attrib. and
Comb., as
limestone-cliff,
limestone-crag,
limestone-gravel,
limestone-land,
limestone-region,
limestone-slab,
limestone-water;
limestone-encased adj.;
limestone-bead (see
quot.);
limestone-fern (Britten & Holland),
-polypody, a fern,
Gymnocarpium robertianum, restricted to areas of limestone rock.
| 1793 D. Ure Hist. Rutherglen 319 The Entrochi..by workmen in Kilbride they are more commonly called *Limestone-beads. |
| 1699 M. Lister Journey to Paris 88 The high Ragstone Mountains and *Lime Stone Cliffs. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geogr. v. 243 The yucca grew on the limestone cliffs. |
| 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. 14 A low cave of rock at the foot of a *limestone crag. |
| 1889 N. S. Shaler Aspects of Earth 102 The North Atlantic where minute *limestone-encased creatures float in the water while they live. |
| 1764 Museum Rust. III. xvii. 75 Others fallow, and manure with a very happy provision they have in the thinly-inhabited and interior parts of the kingdom, called *lime-stone gravel. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 236 Lime-stone gravel..has been successfully laid upon land in Ireland. |
| 1685 Boyle Salub. Air 10 A large tract of *Limestone land was so warm (as they speak) as to dissolve the Snow that fell on it. 1811 Niles' Reg. 12 Oct. 101/1 Our steepest lime stone lands are very favorable to sheep. |
| 1861 Miss Pratt Flower Pl. VI. 164 *Limestone Polypody. 1888 C. T. Druery Choice Brit. Ferns 118 The young fronds [of the Oak Fern] also, when unfolding, exactly resemble the pawnbroker's sign of three balls, which those of the Limestone Polypody do not. 1908 E. Step Wayside & Woodland Ferns 87 The Limestone Polypody..will be found nowhere except on lime⁓stone rocks. 1960 P. Taylor Brit. Ferns & Mosses 164 The Limestone Polypody occurs in the mountains of Europe, temperate Asia and North America. |
| 1865 Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 321 A *limestone region is essential to the abundance of these animals. |
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 774 The several stories are formed of groined arches o, and platforms p, covered over with *limestone slabs. |
| 1831 J. M. Peck Guide for Emigrants 233 Those persons who have been unaccustomed to *lime stone water..frequently have eruptions of the skin. 1872 E. Eggleston End of World ix. 65 Having..quaffed the hard limestone water. |