stone

¹

[ stohn ]

noun

, plural stones stone

1. the hard substance, formed of mineral matter, of which rocks consist.
2. a rock or particular piece or kind of rock, as a boulder or piece of agate.
3. a piece of rock quarried and worked into a specific size and shape for a particular purpose: building stone.

   paving stone;

   building stone.

4. a small piece of rock, as a pebble.
5. precious stone.
6. Chiefly British. one of various units of weight, especially the British unit equivalent to 14 pounds (6.4 kilograms).
7. something resembling a small piece of rock in size, shape, or hardness.
8. any small, hard seed, as of a date; pit.
9. Botany. the hard endocarp of a drupe, as of a peach.
10. Pathology. a calculous concretion in the body, as in the kidney, gallbladder, or urinary bladder.
11. a gravestone or tombstone.
12. grindstone:

    Don’t even think about using that stone until you’ve got your safety glasses on.

13. millstone:

    The gristmill’s original pair of stones were made from volcanic lava deposits in southern Italy.

14. hailstone:

    With many verified reports of stones as large as 6 inches in diameter, we can tell you this was no ordinary hailstorm.

15. curling stone:

    Friction between the stone and the surface of the ice is controlled by many parameters, including velocity.

16. Building Trades. any of various artificial materials imitating cut stone or rubble.
17. Printing. a table with a smooth surface, formerly made of stone, on which page forms are composed.
18. (in lithography) any surface on which an artist draws or etches a picture or design from which a lithograph is made.
19. a playing piece in the game of dominoes, checkers, or backgammon.
20. Slang: Vulgar. Usually stones. testes.

adjective

1. made of or pertaining to stone.
2. made of stoneware:

   a stone mug or bottle.

3. stonelike; stony; obdurate: stone strength.

   a stone killer;

   stone strength.

adverb

1. completely; totally (usually used in combination):

   stone cold.

verb (used with object)

, stoned, ston·ing.

1. to throw stones at; drive by pelting with stones.
2. to put to death by pelting with stones.
3. to provide, fit, pave, line, face or fortify with stones.
4. to rub (something) with or on a stone, as to sharpen, polish, or smooth.
5. to remove stones from, as fruit.
6. Obsolete. to make insensitive or unfeeling.

Stone

²

[ stohn ]

noun

1. Edward Du·rell [d, oo, -, rel, dy, oo, -], 1902–78, U.S. architect.
2. Har·lan Fiske [hahr, -l, uh, n], 1872–1946, U.S. jurist: chief justice of the U.S. 1941–46.
3. Irving, 1903–1989, U.S. author.
4. I(sidor) F(ein·stein) [fahyn, -stahyn], Izzy, 1907–1989, U.S. political journalist.
5. Lucy, 1818–93, U.S. suffragist (wife of Henry Brown Blackwell).

stone-

¹

prefix

1. very; completely

   stone-blind

   stone-cold

Stone

²

/ stəʊn /

noun

1. StoneOliver1946MUSFILMS AND TV: directorFILMS AND TV: writer Oliver. born 1946, US film director and screenwriter: his films include Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), JFK (1991), Nixon (1995), Alexander (2004), and World Trade Center (2006)
2. StoneSharon1958FUSFILMS AND TV: actress Sharon. born 1958, US film actress: her films include Basic Instinct (1991), Casino (1995), and Cold Creek Manor (2003)

stone

³

/ stəʊn /

noun

1. the hard compact nonmetallic material of which rocks are made lithic
2. a small lump of rock; pebble
3. See gemstone
   jewellery short for gemstone
4. 1. a piece of rock designed or shaped for some particular purpose
   2. ( in combination )

      millstone

      gravestone

5. 1. something that resembles a stone
   2. ( in combination )

      hailstone

6. the woody central part of such fruits as the peach and plum, that contains the seed; endocarp
7. any similar hard part of a fruit, such as the stony seed of a date
8. stone a unit of weight, used esp to express human body weight, equal to 14 pounds or 6.350 kilograms
9. Also calledgranite the rounded heavy mass of granite or iron used in the game of curling
10. See calculus
    pathol a nontechnical name for calculus
11. printing a table with a very flat iron or stone surface upon which hot-metal pages are composed into formes; imposition table
12. rare.
    (in certain games) a piece or man
13. 1. any of various dull grey colours
    2. ( as adjective )

       stone paint

14. modifier relating to or made of stone

    a stone house

15. modifier made of stoneware

    a stone jar

16. cast a stone at
    cast a stone at cast aspersions upon
17. heart of stone
    heart of stone an obdurate or unemotional nature
18. leave no stone unturned
    leave no stone unturned to do everything possible to achieve an end

adverb

1. in combination completely

   stone-cold

   stone-dead

verb

1. to throw stones at, esp to kill
2. to remove the stones from
3. to furnish or provide with stones
4. stone the crows slang.
   stone the crows an expression of surprise, dismay, etc

Derived Forms

• ˈstoneˌlike, adjective
• ˈstonable, adjective
• ˈstonelessness, noun
• ˈstoneless, adjective

Other Words From

• ston·a·ble stone·a·ble adjective
• stone·less adjective
• stone·less·ness noun
• stone·like adjective
• un·ston·a·ble un·stone·a·ble adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of stone¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun stan, sto(o)n, Old English stān; cognate with Dutch steen, German Stein, Old Norse steinn, Gothic stains; akin to Greek stī́a “pebble,” Latin stīria “icicle”; the verb, adjective, and adverb are derivative of the noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of stone¹

from stone in the sense of "like a stone"

Origin of stone²

Old English stān; related to Old Saxon stēn, German Stein, Old Norse steinn, Gothic stains, Greek stion pebble

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. cast the first stone, to be the first to condemn or blame a wrongdoer; be hasty in one's judgment:

   What right has she to cast the first stone?

2. leave no stone unturned, to exhaust every possibility in attempting to achieve one's goal; spare no effort:

   We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to find the culprit.

3. set in stone, to put (something) in final form; finalize so as to prevent change or reversal: Also set / cast in concrete.

   These schematics for the library renovation are only proposals—nothing yet is set in stone.

More idioms and phrases containing stone

• cast in stone
• cast the first stone
• flat (stone) broke
• heart of stone
• leave no stone unturned
• rolling stone gathers no moss
• run into a stone wall

Example Sentences

One of these stones is decorated with a boar lying on its back.

From Nautilus

Stonehenge today includes 63 complete stones, including 17 standing sarsen stones in the outer circle.

From Science News

We used to sit around his stone fireplace, chatting about everything under the sun, wine flowing and Leonard Cohen playing somewhere in the background.

From Fortune

Instead, the focus is on medical conditions that astronauts have a fairly high chance of developing, like rashes or kidney stones.

From Science News

The stones help squish food so a creature doesn’t have to grind up everything in its mouth.

From Science News For Students

My body used for his hard pleasure; a stone god gripping me in his hands.

From The Daily Beast

“The US cannot tolerate the idea of any rival economic entity,” Stone writes.

From The Daily Beast

Accusing his opponents of being locked in a Cold War mind-set, it is Stone who is beholden to old orthodoxies.

From The Daily Beast

That Stone would slander the democratic, pro-Western, EuroMaidan revolution as a CIA coup is no surprise.

From The Daily Beast

Mullins quotes Stewart from an interview with Rolling Stone.

From The Daily Beast

That evening in the gondola, with one old and two newer friends, is marked with a white stone in my recollection.

From Project Gutenberg

Monsieur,” growls the baron, “stone walls have ears, you say if only they had tongues; what tales these could tell!

From Project Gutenberg

A colossal steam "traveller" had ceaselessly carried great blocks of stone and long steel girders from point to point.

From Project Gutenberg

The clink of the stone-masons' chisels had resounded year after year from morning till night.

From Project Gutenberg

A few small rocks of some soft stone may be added, and in between these the Ferns are planted.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• gem
• gravel
• metal
• mineral
• pebble
• rock