[Cf. ON. kvernsteinn.] One of the two stones forming a quern; a millstone.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xviii. 6. Behofas him þæt he ʓehongiʓa coern-stan … in suire his [c. 1000 Ags. Gosp. cwyrn-, cweorn-stan].
1388. Wyclif, Num. xi. 8. And the puple ȝede aboute, and gaderide it, and brak with a queerne stoon.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 725/24. Hec mola, a qwernston.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 23. Theyre corne in quernstoans they doe grind.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 760. Round stones as much as milstones or quernstones.
1662. Ireland, Stat. at Large (1765), II. 416. Quern-stones, large, the last, £13. 10s.
1812. J. Smyth, Pract. of Customs (1821), 242. Quern Stones under three feet in diameter, and not exceeding six inches in thickness.
1875. W. M‘Ilwraith, Guide to Wigtownshire, 43. Opposite the east gable of the Church a quern-stone … has been stuck up.
