[OE. fýrstán (= Ger. feuerstein), f. fýr, FIRE + stán, STONE.]
† 1. A stone capable of being used in striking fire: a. A popular name for iron pyrites. b. A flint, esp. the flint of a fire-lock. Obs.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 148. Pirites, nel focaris lapis, fyrstan.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 161/2. Fyyrstone, for to smyte wythe fyre, focaris.
1579. Lily, Euphues (Arb.), 121. Ye fire-stone in Liguria, though it be quenched with milke, yet againe it is kindled with water.
1671. J. Webster, Metallogr., 114. As for Marchasites and Pyritæ Fire-stones, Paracelsus makes them to differ.
1728. J. Woodward, Catal. Fossils (1729), I. 176. In Yorkshire, where these [Pyritæ] are called Fire-Stones.
1865. E. B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, ix. 248. The use of iron pyrites for striking fire was known to the Greeks and Romans, and it shared with flint the name of fire-stone, πυρίτης, pyrites, which it and some other metallic sulphurets have since taken entire possession of.
b. 1530. Palsgr., 220/2. Fyre stone, pierre a feu.
1586. Withals, Dict., H vij/2. A fire-stone to strike fire with, silex.
1700. Astry, trans. Saavedra-Faxardo, I. 283. Let Anger therefore and Mildness, Punishment and Rewards be so intermixed, as in the Golden Fleece, the Steels and Flints are knit together, and between them Flames of Fire, to signifie that the Prince’s Heart should resemble the Fire-stone or Flint, which keeps the sparks of its Anger shut up, least they should hurt any one rashly.
1833. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, II. v. 87. Afterwards a firestone was screwed into the cock…. This ‘firestone’ was not at first of a vitreous nature, like that used at present for striking fire, but a compact pyrites, or marcasite.
2. a. A stone that resists the action of fire; one used for lining furnaces, ovens, etc. b. A local name for certain calcareous sandstones found in the carboniferous and cretaceous strata. c. A local name for granite, tufa, etc.
a. c. 1475. Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 805. Hic abbestus a fyirstone.
1651. R. Child, in Hartlib’s Legacy (1655), 75. Soft sandy stones commonly called fire-stones, because they will endure strong fires, and therefore fit for Iron furnaces.
1674. John Sturdie, in Phil. Trans., XVII. 696. Lined within with a Wall of the best Fire-stone to keep off the force of the Fire from the Walls of the Furnace.
1702. T. Savery, Miner’s Friend, 26. The Furnace being made of Stourbridge, or Windsor brick, or Fire-stone, I do not see it possible for the engine to decay in many years.
1862. G. P. Scrope, Volcanos, 384–5. Employed, under the name of Bakofenstein, as a fire-stone for the lining of ovens, &c.
b. 1707. Mortimer, Husb., vi. 95. Any soft Stone, as Fire-stone, Lime-stone, &c., if broke small, and laid on cold Lands, must be of advantage to them.
1833. Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. 286. An inferior deposit called, provincially, ‘Firestone,’ and by English geologists the ‘Upper green-sand.’
1839. Murchison, Silur. Syst., I. xxxiv. 452. Its upper part contains a subordinate band of reddish sandstone, the firestone of the country people.
1892. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Suppl., Firestone, a local name in Surrey for the soft calcareous sandstone, so generally sold in the metropolis under the name of hearthstone.
c. 1776. G. Semple, A Treatise on Building in Water, 56. This [the Carriage-way], according to my original Plan, was to be paved with Fire-stone.
1860. Ecclesiotogist, XXI. 143. The walling generally is built of a volcanic stone called [in the West Indies] firestone, procured on the island from a quarry about a mile from the church; it is of a brittle nature, and highly porous, but not difficult to work, and is of a dim chocolate colour.
3. A hearth-stone.
1613. Rovenzon, Treat. Metal., D iij. Vpon decay of the Furnace in the fire-stone or hearth, the one end of the Furnace may bee pulled downe, and a new fire-stone, or hearth put in, and the Furnace re-edified and built all againe for forty shillings charge, or lesse.
1842. S. C. Hall, Ireland, II. 6. The stones (of red sandstone) that formed the doorway have been removed by the peasantry to make ‘fire-stones.’
