Stone sb.

Forms: 1–3 (4–5 Sc. and north.) stan, 3 stæn, 3–5 ston, 4–5 sten, 4–6 stoon (5–6 stoone), 4–9 (Sc. and north.) stane, 5 Sc. stayne, (stein), 5–7 stonne, 6 stoan(e, steane, 6–7 Sc. stain(e, 7 Sc., 8–9 dial. stean, 4– stone. [Common Teut.: OE. stán str. masc. corresponds to OFris. stên, (WFris. stên, stien, NFris. stîn, stîæn), OS. stên (LG., Du. steen), OHG. (MHG., mod.G.) stein, ON. stein-n (Sw., Da. sten), Goth. stain-s:—OTeut. *staino-z, cogn. w. OSl. stêna (Russ. стѣна) wall, and Gr. στία, στῖον pebble.]

  1.  A piece of rock or hard mineral substance (other than metal) of a small or moderate size.

c. 888.  Ælfred, Boeth., xxxiv. § xi. Ʒif þu þonne ænne stan toclifst, ne wyrð he næfre ʓegadrod swa he ær wæs.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 9. Me þe sculde nimen and … þe al to-toruion mid stane.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1604. He lay bi luzan ut on niȝt, A ston under hise heued riȝt.

a. 1310.  Cursor M., 7581. He tok fiue stans rond.

c. 1412.  Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 1805. A stoon no thyng ne felith.

1573.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 80. The sticks and the stones go and gather vp cleene.

1686.  W. Harris, trans. Lemery’s Course Chem., 214. There have been who gazing too earnestly upon the Stars above, have not perceived the stone at their feet, that caused them to stumble.

1798.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., 17. The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone.

1812–6.  Playfair, Nat. Phil. (1819), I. 323. The Stones which have … been ascertained … to fall down from the air.

1833.  Penny Cycl., I. 150/1. Aerolites, called also Meteoric Stones.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 64. A dog who … quarrels with the stones which are thrown at him.

  † b.  A rock, cliff, crag; a mass of rock; rocky ground. Obs.

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, xxvi. 6 [xxvii. 5]. In stane upahof mec.

c. 1000.  Rule St. Benet (1888), 5. Hit ne feoll forþam þe hit wæs ʓestaðelod ofor þam stane.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 155. Sum of þe sed ful uppe þe ston and dride þere.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 16762 + 83. Þe son wex merke, þe erth quoke, Þe stons clef.

c. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 4133. Lest thei … breke her schippus on cragges and stones.

c. 1430.  Prymer (1895), 65. He ordeyned my feet on a stoon.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, IX. vii. 174. Quhil the famyl and ofspring of Enee The stane immovable of the Capitolie Inhabitis.

a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, April 1646. Some of these vast mountaines were but one entire stone.

  fig.  a. 1220.  Vices & Virtues (1888), 27. And uppe þese stane ðe ðu hier hafst ȝenamd, Crist, godes sune, ich wille araren mine cherche.

c. 1400.  Rule St. Benet, 189. Þis stone es crist, þat we on call.

1535.  Coverdale, Deut. xxxii. 4. Perfecte are the workes of the Stone for all his wayes are righteous.

  2.  The hard compact material of which stones and rocks consist; hard mineral substance other than metal.

1154.  O. E. Chron. (Canterb. MS.), an. 1020. Se cyng … let timbrian ðar an mynster of stane & lime.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 4129. Þatt cnif wass … Off stan, & nohht off irenn.

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 266. Maumez of treo oðer of stan.

13[?].  K. Horn, 905 (Harl.). A chirche of lym & ston.

c. 1384.  Chaucer, H. Fame, 70. The god of slepe … That dwelleth in a cave of stoon.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), i. 4. A brigg of stane þat es ouer þe ryuer.

1542.  Boorde, Dyetary, viii. (1870), 249. Stand nor syt long bareheed vnder a vawte of stone.

1590.  in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., Var. Coll., IV. 284. Perceiving as well muche sand as stone … fetched from the sea-side.

1613.  Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 229. Mount Sinai … whose top … is hard stone of yron colour.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist., I. 27. We find layers of stone often over the lightest soils.

1826.  Art of Brewing (ed. 2), 193. In Gloucestershire, and other parts of England, where stone is abundant.

1869.  Lowell, Cathedral, 283. Imagination’s very self in stone!

  b.  as material for lithography.

c. 1806.  in Archæol. Jrnl. (1894), Ser. II. I. 111. The art of printing from stone called Polyautography.

1838.  W. C. Harris, Narr. Exped. S. Africa, frontisp., Moselekatse, King of the Amazooloo. On Stone by W. C. Harris.

1864.  Scott. Metr. Psalter of 1635, title-p., Printed from stone, by Maclure and Macdonald, Lithographers to the Queen.

  c.  A particular kind of rock or hard mineral matter.

c. 1400.  trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 87. Of propertez of stones, and of vertuz of herbes.

1480.  Caxton, Mirr. World, 92. In Archade is a stone whiche in no wyse may be quenchyd after it is sette a fire.

15[?].  in Dunbar’s Poems (1893), II. 306. He knew the vertew of erb and stone.

1731.  Historia Lit., III. 353. Semitransparent Stones, as Agat.

1796.  Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 2. Stones differ from earths principally in cohesion and hardness.

1800.  trans. Lagrange’s Chem., I. 154. Many stones contain silex.

1841.  Penny Cycl., XXI. 173/2. The material is a white calcareous stone, obtained in the neighbourhood.

  d.  spec. = PHILOSOPHERS’ STONE.

1390.  Gower, Conf., II. 88. This Ston … makth multiplicacioun Of gold.

c. 1450.  Lydg., Secrees, 986. Al worldly tresour breeffly shet in Oon, Is declaryd in vertu of this stoon.

1610.  B. Jonson, Alch., Argt. 11. Selling of Flyes, flat Bawdry, with the Stone,

1822.  Byron, Werner, III. i. 328. Thou more than stone of the philosopher!

  e.  = STONEWARE. Chiefly attrib.: see 17 b.

1642.  Rates of Merchandizes, 57. Whistles, cocks or Birds of stone.

1851.  [see STONE-FRUIT 2].

  † f.  A mirror. Obs. rare^–1. Cf. specular stone, SPECULAR a. 1, 1 b.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, V. iii. 262. Lend me a Looking-glasse, If that her breath will mist or staine the stone, Why then she liues.

  3.  a. As a type of motionlessness or fixity; esp. in phr. (as) still as a stone. ? Obs. (Cf. STONE-STILL.)

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 1253. Þ^t nan ne seide na wiht, ah seten stille ase stan.

1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 102. He lay stille as eny ston.

1535.  Coverdale, Exod. xv. 16. Let feare and drede fall vpon them … that they maye be as styll as a stone.

1657.  Fuller, Serm., Best Employm., 12. Sit not there as a stone upon a stoole.

  † b.  As an emblem of stability or constancy; in phr. sad, stable, steadfast, true as stone. Obs.

c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., 115. Rohand, trewe so stan.

c. 1425.  Hampole’s Psalter, Metr. Pref. 46. Euery word is sad as stone and sothly sayd, ful sykerly.

c. 1440.  Capgrave, Life St. Kath., IV. 1251. He hath made hir hardy and stable as þe stoone.

c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 22. I wyl be as stedfast as any stone.

  c.  As a type of hardness, and hence as an emblem of insensibility, stupidity, deadness or the like; esp. in phrases of comparison with various adjs. as blind, cold, dead, deaf, dumb, hard, etc. (Cf. 19.)

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 12028. He fel dun ded as ston.

13[?].  Seuyn Sages (W.), 2359. He bicam blind so ston.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 2409. Dom as a stoon.

c. 1400.  Pety Job, 318, in 26 Pol. Poems, 131. Me thynketh myn hert ys harder than a ston.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, xv. 9. He that dronis ay as ane bee Sowld haif ane heirar dull as stane.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., II. iii. 26. All was cold as any stone. Ibid. (1601), All’s Well, II. i. 76. A medicine … able to breath life into a stone.

1791.  J. Hampson, Mem. J. Wesley, II. 132–3. The man continued, as he had long been, as blind as a stone.

1837.  P. Keith, Bot. Lex., 116. The albumen … in the seed of the coffee plant … is horny, and in that of the Date-palm it is said to be as hard as a stone.

1841.  Hood, Tale Trumpet, 42. She was deaf as a stone.

  4.  transf. and fig. Something resembling stone or a stone: a. in physical sense: A hard concretion.

1893.  Baring-Gould, Cheap Jack Zita, III. 119. The frost had set in … and … the Lark was turned to stone within its embankments.

  b.  in figurative sense, chiefly as the supposed substance of a ‘hard’ heart; also, a ‘hard’ or unfeeling person, or heart; † also, a stupid person, blockhead; a silent person.

1388.  Wyclif, Ezek. xxxvi. 26. Y schal do awei an herte of stoon [1382 a stonen herte] fro ȝoure fleisch.

a. 1400.  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., 618/266. Þe Iewes weoren harde stones.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lxxv. 40. Ȝour mvsing wald perss ane hairt of stane.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., II. iii. 11. He is a stone, a very pibble stone, and has no more pitty in him then a dogge.

1598.  R. Bernard, trans. Terence, Heautontim., V. i. Signes … whereby I might haue perceiued it, had not I beene a very stone [ni essem lapis].

1612.  Two Noble K., I. i. 140. Your sorrow beates so ardently upon me, That it shall make a counter reflect gainst My Brothers heart, and warme it to some pitty, Though it were made of stone.

a. 1659.  T. Pestel, Psalm for Christmas Day Morning, Joyn then all hearts that are not stone,… To celebrate this holy One.

1746.  Hervey, Medit. (1818), 147. The heart of stone is taken away, and a heart of flesh … is introduced in its stead.

a. 1771.  Gray, Dante, 54. Nor wept, for all Within was Stone.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xiv. Tom Smart said the widow’s lamentations when she heard the disclosure would have pierced a heart of stone.

1852.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxxiv. He … said he should come back; but it didn’t deceive me, I knew that the time had come. I was just like one turned into stone.

  5.  A piece of stone of a definite form and size (usually artificially shaped), used for some special purpose. (Often as the second element of a compound: cf. definitions below.)

  a.  for building, or as a part or element of a building. (See also COPING-STONE, CORNER-STONE, FOUNDATION-stone, etc.)

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter ci. 15 [cii. 14]. Forðon welʓelicad hefdun ðeowas ðine stanas his.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 16285. Swa þeʓʓ stodenn … To wirkenn o þe temmple, Þatt draʓhenn swerd wass inn an hannd, & lim & stan inn oþerr.

c. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 3374. Noble Troye … A-doun is throwen, with ston an[d] wal.

1427.  in Heath, Grocers’ Comp. (1869), 4. In here tyme … was the furste stoon leyd of the Groceres place in Conyhoope-lane.

1552.  Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 28. A Mason can nocht hew ane evin aislair staine without directioun of his rewill.

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., IV. i. 104. Looke backe with me vnto the Tower. Pitty, you ancient Stones, those tender Babes, Whom Enuie hath immur’d within your Walls.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 696. With the stones hewed out of it … Sant Peters at Yorke was reedified.

1796.  H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), II. 132. Water … diffused … through the air … attaches itself, to the glass-windows and the polished stones of our houses.

1833.  Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 79. To build all the foundations … with stones properly headed.

1867.  H. Macmillan, Bible Teach., xii. (1870), 232. It is built up, stone by stone, from the level of the earth.

  b.  for paving.

  (See also HEARTHSTONE, PAVINGSTONE, etc.)

1427–8.  Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 68. Also for a goter ston for þe same gate, xiiij d.

1612.  Two Noble K., V. iv. 68. On this horse is Arcite Trotting the stones of Athens.

1682.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1694/4. An Iron Grey Gelding,… a little tender-footed on the Stones.

1738.  Gentl. Mag., VIII. 549/1. He was driven over the Stones in a Hackney Coach.

1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, xix. Horses clattered on the uneven stones.

1841.  [see PAUPER 1 c].

1851.  Mrs. Browning, Casa Guidi Wind., I. 601. On the stone Called Dante’s,—a plain flat stone, scarce discerned From others in the pavement.

  c.  A block, slab or pillar of stone set up as a memorial, to impart information, or for some ceremonial purpose: e.g., as an altar, a monument, a boundary-mark, etc.

  See also HOAR-STONE 2, MILESTONE, SHIRE-stone, STANDING STONE.

847.  Charter, in O. E. Texts, 434. On ðone stan æt ðære flodan.

c. 1205.  Lay., 9959. He lette a-ræren anan enne swuðe sælcuð stan: he lette þer on grauen sælcuðe run-stauen hu he Rodric of-sloh.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 158. Evene vp riȝht & swiþe heiȝ, þat wonder hit is to se, Þe stones stondeþ þere so grete.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 979. Ȝee sal do bren it on a stan.

1450–80.  trans. Secreta Secret., lviii. 33. It was founde writen in a stone of þe tunge of Caldee.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, I. 121. The croune he tuk apon that sammyne stane At Gadalos send with his sone fra Spane.

1581.  Cov. Leet Bk., 822. & so Crosse ouer to the corner of Babethorp-wast vnto another stone there sett.

1598–1603.  Stow, Surv. (1908), I. 224. On the south side of this high streete … is pitched vpright a great stone called London stone.

1716.  Addison, Freeholder, No. 18, ¶ 5. As ridiculously puzzled … as a man that counts the stones on Salisbury-plain, which can never be settled to any certain number.

1827.  G. Higgins, Celtic Druids, 212. Some of these stones-erect have crosses cut upon them.

1831.  Scott, Ct. Robt., xx. The troth I had plighted to Hereward at the stone of Odin.

  d.  spec. = GRAVESTONE 2, TOMBSTONE.

13[?].  Cursor M., 193 (Gött.). Lazar þat ded lay vnder stan.

1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 8780. Lordes are besy aboute to haue Proude stones lyggyng an hye on here graue.

1436.  E. E. Wills, 105. I woll þat there be leyde vpon my body a stone of Marble.

a. 1585.  Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 567. Than sall be graud vpon the stane Quhilk on thy graue beis laid [etc.].

1687.  A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 58. When the Grave is filled up, they erect a stone over the head of the deceased.

1750.  Gray, Elegy, 116. The lay, Grav’d on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.

1767.  Jago, Edge-hill, IV. 332. Alike the simple Stone And Mausoleum proud, his Pow’r attest, In wretched Doggrel, or elab’rate Verse.

1850.  Thackeray, Pendennis, lxxi. The stone closes over Harry the Fourth, and Harry the Fifth reigns in his stead.

1900.  Bp. W. How, Lighter Moments, 21. A stonemason one day brought a stone to put into the churchyard, with a verse on it.

  e.  As an object of idolatrous worship; chiefly pl. in conjunction with stocks: see STOCK sb. 1 d.

c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 89. Wat honor of God is þis, to ren about bi tre, and stone, and formis, and honor as God veyn figeris?

  † f.  A gun-flint. Obs.

1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Knt. Burning Pestle, V. i. Ralph. Wheres the stone of this Peece? 2 Sold. The Drummer took it out to light Tobacco.

  g.  A rounded stone or pebble formerly used as a missile in war, being thrown with the hand, discharged from a sling, or shot from a fire-arm (cf. GUNSTONE); † stone of iron, a cannon-ball (obs.).

c. 1205.  Lay., 626. Mid stocken & mid stanen stal fiht heo makeden.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 3030. Grete stones wyþ slynges [they] caste.

c. 1450.  Brut, 434. A traitour … shotte a Gonne, and the stone smot this good Erle of Salusbury.

1511.  Guylforde’s Pilgr. (Camden), 8. An other pece … shoteth a stone of irron of .ij. fote depe.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 113. The Frenchemen shot out ordinaunce, quarelles and stones.

1573–5.  Gascoigne, Flowers, Wks. 1907, I. 81. The harquebush doth spit his spight, with prety persing stones.

1581.  A. Hall, Iliad, III. 47. The Greekes cease not to martch, their stones & darts at random flye.

1705.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4097/1. They … ply the Enemy … with Bombs and Stones, from 6 Mortars.

1745.  P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 288–9. Each of those they had loaded with … Flint Stones and Shot.

1867.  A. L. Gordon, Poems (1912), 94. Like a bird on the wing, or a stone from a sling.

  h.  A shaped piece of stone for grinding or sharpening something, as a GRINDSTONE, MILLSTONE, WHETSTONE.

1578.  Invent. R. Wardr. (1815), 260. Ane man mylne with hir stanys and hir haill tymmer werk.

1599.  Breton, Wil of Wit (Grosart), 11/1. The stone, that Wit must whet himselfe uppon.

1751.  N. Jersey Archives, XIX. 1. A Large … grist-mill, with two pairs of stones.

1886.  Stevenson, Kidnapped, xxvi. Shearers worked all day in a field … and we could hear the stones going on the hooks.

  i.  A flat slab or tablet for grinding something upon, or for smoothing or flattening something (see also FLATTENING-stone, SLEEKSTONE, etc.); in Printing = IMPOSING-stone; also a slab of stone for lithography (see 2 b).

14[?].  Crafte of Lymnynge, in E. E. Misc. (Warton Club), 72. Grynde vermelone one a stone with newe glayre.

a. 1500.  [see mustard-stone, MUSTARD sb. 3 c].

1573.  Art Limming, 5 b. Grind Synapour lake & Synapour topes ech by him selfe on a Painters stone.

1683.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xvii. ¶ 2. The Stone is commonly about eighteen Inches diameter, having both its Sides truly Rub’d flat and smooth. Ibid., xxiv. ¶ 17. They are to be Ground with a Mullar on a smooth Marble Stone.

c. 1806.  in Archæol. Jrnl. (1894), Ser. II. I. 112. A drawing … intended to be printed is made on a stone with a pen and a particular ink or with a kind of chalk.

1827.  Faraday, Chem. Manip., xix. (1842), 535. Glass may be ground on almost any flat stone with a coarse grain, by means of a little sharp sand and water.

1886.  Furnivall, in Shaks. Ven. & Ad. (1st Qo. facs.), p. xix. Troilus and Cressida is partly on the stone.

  j.  A heavy stone used in athletic sports. Phrases, to cast, put or throw the stone: see also PUT v.¹ 2, v.² 2.

c. 1300–1816.  [see PUT v.¹ 2, v.² 2].

1518.  H. Watson, Hist. Oliver of Castile (Roxb.), C 1 b. Dysportes … vsed by noble men … as … tennys, lepe, sprynge, wrastle, cast the stone, cast the barre, or ony other games.

1561.  T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtier, I. (1577), D vj. It is meet for hym also to haue the Arte of swymming, to leape, to runne, to caste the stone.

1620.  [see CURLING STONE].

1638.  Nabbes, Totenham-Court, II. ii. (Bullen), I. 120. He pitcheth the barr and throws the stone.

1849.  Chambers’s Inform., II. 649/2. Each person … causing his stone to slide towards the opposite end of the rink.

1891.  [see CURLING-STONE].

  † 6.  A vessel of stone, or of stoneware; a stone jar, cistern, etc. Obs. (Cf. STEAN.)

c. 1450.  Lovelich, Grail, lv. 165. Thanne let he fyllen a ston [Fr. vne cuue] … Ful of water.

c. 1450.  Mirk’s Festial, 52/8. Þen bade Ihesus seruandus full syxe stones þat stoden þer wyth watyr.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, IV. viii. 128. Oute of that pype ranne water … in a stone of marbel.

a. 1722.  Lisle, Husb. (1757), 206. The maltsters used to fling the barley out of the cistern or stone into the floor.

  7.  A precious stone: see PRECIOUS a. 6 a.

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter xviii. 11 [xix. 10]. Wilsum ofer gold & stan.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 8170. Eȝȝwhær bisett Wiþþ deorewurrþe staness.

c. 1300.  Havelok, 1633. A gold ring drow he forth anon, An hundred pund was worth þe ston.

1340.  Ayenb., 140. He louede betere þe bestes þet god him made þanne he dede gold oþer stones of pris.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 1062. With a coroune of many a riche stoon Vp on hire heed.

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 468. His Basnet was bordourit and burneist bricht With stanes of Beriall cleir, Dyamountis and Sapheir, Riche Rubeis in feir.

1508.  Dunbar, Thistle & Rose, 102. This lady … crownit him with dyademe Oft radyous stonis.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 383. A riche crowne of gold garnished with stone and pearle.

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., I. iv. 27. Inestimable stones, vnvalewed Iewels. Ibid. (1611), Cymb., II. iv. 40. Sparkles this Stone as it was wont?

1753.  Lond. Mag., Oct., 480/2. His buckles of stones, of five guineas price.

1910.  H. A. Miers, in Encycl. Brit., VIII. 161/2. The River Diggings on the Vaal river are still worked upon a small scale…. The stones, however, are good.

  8.  A lump of metallic ore. Obs. exc. in stone of tin, a lump of tin ore.

c. 888.  Ælfred, Boeth., xxxiv. § 8. Þa gyldenan stanas, & þa seolfrenan, & ælces cynnes ʓimmas.

1778.  W. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 81. A few Stones of Tin are found.

1895.  Times, 7 Jan., 3/4. The agents report good stones of tin coming from Trevannance engine shaft.

  † b.  = LOADSTONE, Obs.

1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 293. He hath his rihte cours forth holde Be Ston and nedle, til he cam To Tharse.

1436.  Libel Eng. Policy, in Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 191. Of Yseland to wryte is lytille nede,… Men have practised by nedle and by stone Thider-wardes wythine a lytel whylle.

1631.  W. Foster, Sponge Weapon-salve, 25. I deny that the Loadstone doth worke upon the North-pole. The pole rather workes upon the stone.

  9.  = HAILSTONE.

1422.  Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 198. God keste ham dovne wyth grete Stonys of hawle.

1606.  Shaks., Ant. & Cl., III. xiii. 160. If I be so, From my cold heart let Heauen ingender haile, And poyson it in the sourse, and the first stone Drop in my necke.

1753.  Scots Mag., June, 307/1. Some of the stones measured three inches about.

  10.  A hard morbid concretion in the body, esp. in the kidney or urinary bladder, or in the gall-bladder (GALL-STONE); also an intestinal concretion in some animals (bezoar stone: see BEZOAR 2 a): = CALCULUS 1. Also, the disease caused or characterized by the formation of such a concretion; lithiasis. (In hawks = CRAY 2.)

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 238. On þære blædran stanas weaxað.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. lv. (1495), 268. Or gleymy humours in the reynes and in the bledder comyth the stone.

1483.  Caxton, Cato, e viij b. [Mustard] purgeth … the brayne and heyleth and breketh the stone.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, C vij b. When yowre hawke may not metese then she hathe thatt sekenes calde the stoon.

1533.  Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), 23. Chese ingendreth yll humours, and bredeth the stone.

1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. cccciii. 888. The seede and roote of Saxifrage drunken with wine … breaketh the stone in the kidneies and bladder.

1620.  Venner, Via Recta, viii. 177. To liue fettered with gouts,… & tormented with stones.

1621.  Burton, Anat. Mel., II. v. I. v. 474. Bezoar stone…. I haue seene [some] that haue beene much displeased with faintnesse,… & taking the weight of three grains of this stone … haue beene cured.

1628.  in Foster, Eng. Factories India (1909), III. 206. Very sick, being newly cutt for the stone.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 27, ¶ 2. In the Pangs of the Stone, Gout, or any acute Distemper.

1797.  M. Baillie, Morb. Anat. (1807), 373. Stones have sometimes been found in the cavity of the uterus.

1846.  G. E. Day, trans. Simon’s Anim. Chem., II. 442. Of 59 small stones taken from a man aged 45 years, 24 consisted of urate of ammonia and 35 of uric acid.

1859.  Jephson, Brittany, vii. 89. Mineral waters, said to be beneficial in cases of stone and dropsy.

1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 233. The stones may have passed into the bowel.

  b.  A hard natural formation in an animal.

  See also crab-stone (CRAB sb.¹ 11), ear-stone (EAR sb.¹ 10).

1605.  [see CRAB’S-EYE].

1661.  Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., Isagoge d 6. All kinds of stones found in the heads of fishes, powdred and drunk in wine, help the collick. Ibid., 190. Crab…. The eyes or stones … breake the stone.

  11.  A testicle: chiefly in pl. Obs. exc. in vulgar use. (See also BALLOCK-stone.)

1154.  O. E. Chron., an. 1124, ad fin., Six men spilde of here æʓon & of here stanes.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 289. Þe rotynge of his priue stones.

a. 1450.  Knt. de la Tour, 71. They toke a knyff, and cutte awey the monkes stones.

1542.  Boorde, Dyetary, xviii. (1870), 277. The stones of a cockrell, & the stones of other beestes that hath not done theyr kynde, be nutrytyue.

1617.  Moryson, Itin., I. 163. The Toscanes hold Rammes stones fried for a great daintie.

1668.  Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., Introd. The action of the Liver is blood-making, of the Stones, Seed-making.

1713.  J. Warder, True Amazons, 10. In the very shape of the Stones of a Lamb.

  † b.  In old names of various species of orchis, as DOGSTONES, fool’s stones (FOOL sb.¹ 7 c), fox-stones (FOX sb. 16); hence used in plural as a generic term for ‘orchis.’ Obs.

1562.  Turner, Herbal, II. 152. Y^e other kindes [of orchis] ar in other countrees called fox stones or hear stones, & they may after y^e Greke be called dogstones.

1597.  Gerarde, Herball, I. xcvii. 155. I haue placed it and his kinds next vnto the Lillies, before the kinds of Orchis or stones. Ibid., xcviii. 156. Tragorchis, or Gotes stones:… Testiculus odoratus, or sweete smelling stones:… Testiculus Pumilio, or Dwarffe stones.

  12.  The hard wood-like endocarp of a stone-fruit or drupe, inclosed by the pulpy pericarp, and inclosing the seed or kernel. Also applied to the hard seeds of some pulpy fruits, as the grape.

1523–34.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 140. Cheryes … maye be sette of stones.

1591.  A. W., Bk. Cookrye, 10 b. Great Raisins, the stones taken out.

1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., II. i. 110. Cracking the stones of the foresaid prewyns.

1620.  Venner, Via Recta, vii. 120. In the eating of Grapes … that neither the skinnes, nor the kernels or stones in them be swallowed downe.

1796.  Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), I. 252. Prunus…. S[eed] Vessel nearly globular, pulpy, including a nut or stone.

1870.  Hooker, Stud. Flora, 108. Bird Cherry … Stone globose.

1882.  Vines, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 122. The stone is the inner layer of the fundamental tissue of the same foliar structure of which the outer layers form the succulent flesh of the fruit.

  13.  A name for a domino.

1865.  Compl. Domino-player, 19. [At vingt-et-un] the dealer then slides the players one domino or stone each.

1870.  Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 274. Stones…. The name by which the domino is called at vingt-et-un.

  14.  A measure of weight, usually equal to 14 pounds avoirdupois (¹/₈ of a hundredweight, or half a ‘quarter’), but varying with different commodities from 8 to 24 pounds. The stone of 14 lb. is the common unit used in stating the weight of a man or large animal. (Collective pl. usually stone.) See also STONE-WEIGHT.

139[?].  Earl Derby’s Exped. (Camden), 76/16. Pro x stone lini.

a. 1400.  Sir Perc., 2024. The clobe wheyhed reghte wele,… The hede was of harde stele, Twelve stone weghte! There was iryne in the wande, Ten stone of the lande.

1465.  Manners & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 200. Item, in aparayll of the said shippe;… ropes for hyr srowde, the wyche weyid xv. stone .ij. li., prise the stone, xxj.d.

1474.  Stat. Winch., in Cov. Leet Bk., 396. The wich kepes weyght & mesure l li. the halfe C, xxv^ti li. the quartern, xij li. & halfe the halfe quartern, þe wich was called of olde tyme beyng Stone of London, & vj li. & a quartern ys the halfe Stone, as it appereth in Magna Carta.

1483.  in Acta Dom. Concil. (1839), 83*/2. ix stane of chese,… ten stane of butter.

1495.  Act 11 Hen. VII., c. 4 § 2. Be it also enacted that ther be but only … xiiij lb. to the stone of Wolle.

1520.  Cov. Leet Bk., 668. That no taloo be solde by-twene this & the next lete a-bove ij s. the Stonne.

1542.  Recorde, Gr. Artes (1575), 203. In woolle … the 14 pounde is not named halfe quarterne, but a Stone.

1609.  Skene, Reg. Maj., Stat. Robt. III., 56 b. The stane to wey woll and other things, sould haue fiuetene punds. Ane stane of walx, aucht. Twelue London punds makes ane stane.

1674.  Josselyn, Two Voy. New-Eng., 15. Of Sugar and Spice, 8 pound make the stone.

1730.  Cheny, List Horse-Matches, 68. Fourteen Hands to carry Nine Stone.

1825.  R. P. Ward, Tremaine, I. xviii. 123. He rose up, as well as sixteen stone would permit.

1845.  G. Dodd, Brit. Manuf., IV. 96. The wool comes in bags containing about ten stones each—a ‘stone’ in this commodity being twenty-four pounds.

1846.  Baxter’s Libr. Pract. Agric., I. 213. A calf … eighteen weeks old, weighing … 33 stone.

1887.  ‘Mark Rutherford,’ Revol. Tanner’s Lane, i. (ed. 8), 7. A drayman weighing about eighteen stone.

1913.  Times, 19 Aug., 14/5. Quotations per stone of 8lb.:—Beef—…. Mutton—.

  b.  A piece of metal of this weight, used in weighing, or (as in quot.) as a standard.

1556.  Peebles Burgh Rec. (1872), 235. The commoun stane to be put in sure keping in the commoun Kist.

  15.  In collectors’ names of certain moths: see also MOCHA¹ 2.

1775.  M. Harris, Engl. Lepidoptera, 45. Phalæna…. Stone, mocha…. Stone, pale mocha.

1832.  J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & Moths, 64. Xylina.… The Stone (X. petrificata …) Wings … pale grey brown. Ibid., 114. Ephyra.… The Mocha Stone (E. porata …).

  16.  Proverbial phrases.

  † a.  To boil, roast or wash a stone: to labor in vain, expend effort with no result. Obs.

1522.  Skelton, Why not to Court, 109. They may … elles go rost a stone.

1546.  J. Heywood, Prov., II. ii. (1867), 46. I doo but roste a stone. In warmyng hir.

c. 1548.  in Strype, Eccl. Mem. (1622), II. II. 316. Or els he washeth a stone, that is to say, he laboureth in vayne.

1895.  Westm. Gaz., 22 May, 6/1. Like the old saying:—‘Boil stones in butter and you shall sup the broth.’

  b.  To kill two birds with one stone: to accomplish two different purposes by the same act or proceeding.

1656.  [see BIRD 6].

1696.  Growth of Deism in Eng., 11. Thereby they kill two or three Birds with one stone.

1847.  Mrs. Sherwood, Fairchild Fam., III. xxi. 273. So, as John says, she will be killing two birds with one stone.

  c.  To leave no stone unturned (also formerly to move, roll or turn every stone or all stones): to try every possible expedient in order to bring about a desired result.

c. 1550.  Dice-Play, B vj. He wil refuse no labor nor leaue no stone vnturned, to pick vp a penny.

1569.  Underdowne, Heliodorus, VIII. 108 b. Now turne euery stoane, deuise al maner of meanes.

1600.  Holland, Livy, XXV. xxiii. 565. Hee would leave no stone unrolled, but trie all waies that could be devised.

1637.  Gillespie, Eng.-Pop. Cerem., Epist. B 1 b. They make so much adoe, and move every stone against us.

1648.  J. Beaumont, Psyche, X. lxx. Still he persever’d all stones to roll, Which might that one in Judas’ Bosom move.

1670.  G. H., trans. Hist. Cardinals, II. III. 190. [He] has left no stone unturn’d to arrive at his designs.

1791.  Burke, Corr. (1844), III. 349. We shall not be negligent; no stone will be left unturned.

1873.  Stanley, Serm. East, 108. He left no stone unturned to do the work which was set before him.

  d.  (a) † To roll the stone: to discuss a matter (obs.). (b) To set († put) a stone rolling: to start a course of action that may lead to unforeseen, esp. disastrous, consequences. (c) Prov. A rolling stone gathers no moss: see MOSS sb. 3 b, ROLLING STONE 1. (d) † To stand on a rolling stone (etc.): to be in a precarious position where one is likely to fall or suffer disaster (obs.).

1581.  R. Goade, in Confer., III. (1584), Q iiij. This stone hath bene rowled enough.

1592.  Kyd, Spanish Trag., I. iii. 317. Whose foote is standing on a rowling stone.

1602.  Fulbecke, Pandectes, 78. How murther hath beene punished … I haue shewed I hope sufficientlie … so that I shall not need here to rowle the same stone.

1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. iii. 104. I told ye all When we first put this dangerous stone a rowling, ’Twold fall vpon our selues.

  † e.  To spring or be sprung of (a, the) stone: used in similative expressions indicating the absence of any known ancestry or kinsfolk. Obs.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 6720. Seint Edward in normandie was þo bileued al one As bar, as wo seiþ, of þe kunde as be sprong of þe stone.

a. 1300.  K. Horn (Camb.), 1026. Horn him ȝede alone, Also he sprunge of stone.

a. 1400.  Sir Perc., 1043. Als he ware sprongene of a stane, Thare na mane hym kende.

  † f.  To take a stone (up) in the ear: (of a woman) to lapse from virtue. slang. Obs.

1691.  Shadwell, Scowrers, II. 19. Did you see who went off with your Aunt! is she given to stumble? will she take a Stone in her Ear?

1702.  T. Brown, Lett. fr. Dead, Wks. 1730, II. 22. Madam, I much rejoice to hear, You’ll take a stone up in your ear; For I’m a frail transgressor too.

  g.  To throw (cast) a stone or stones (at): to make an attack (upon), or bring an accusation (against). So to cast the first stone (in allusion to John viii. 7).

1568.  Satir. Poems Reform., xlvii. 83. Quhat cummer castis the formest stane,… At tha peure winschis ȝe wranguslie suspect.

1579.  Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 325. Will not all the Grammarians, Logicians, and Rhetoricians … throwe stones at him?

a. 1633.  [see GLASS sb.¹ 1]

1670.  [see GLASS WINDOW].

1674.  Hickman, Hist. Quinquart. (ed. 2), 109. The Doctor, as if he were perfectly free from this crime, thus throweth his stones at others.

1754.  Shebbeare, Matrimony (1766), II. 102. Thee shouldst not throw stones, who hast a Head of Glass thyself.

1827.  Scott, Chron. Canongate, v. It is not, however, prudent to commence with throwing stones, just when I am striking out windows of my own.

1869.  [see GLASS-HOUSE 2].

  h.  Stone of stumbling († scandal, † slander, etc.): an occasion of scandal or stumbling, a stumbling-block (Vulgate petra scandali). † Stone of touch = TOUCHSTONE (obs.).

1382.  Wyclif, Isa. viii. 14. The Lord … shal be … in to a ston … of offencion [1388 a stoon of hirtyng], and in to a ston of sclaunder [Coverd. stone to stomble at, y^e rock to fall vpon; 1611 for a stone of stumbling and for a rocke of offence] to the two houses of Irael.

1604.  A. Craig, Poet. Ess. (1873), 13. Be thou the stone (precellent Prince) of tuch, For to secerne the honest mindes from such.

1639.  S. Du Verger, Camus’ Admir. Events, 111. She was accounted as a stone of scandall which ought to bee cast forth of the City.

1695.  trans. Misson’s Voy. Italy, II. 107. His Authority has been always a Stone of Stumbling to those who are wont to make Prejudice their Rule of Faith.

1911.  B. Nightingale, Ejected of 1662, I. 701. Hutchinson’s error has led to considerable confusion, and been quite a stone of stumbling to subsequent writers.

  i.  Phrases of comparison, with adjs. (cold, dead, hard, etc., as (a) stone): see 3 c.

  17.  attrib. passing into adj. a. Consisting of stone; made or built of stone.

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 1700 (Gr.). Him on laste þu stiðlie stantorr.

a. 1000.  Ruin, 39 (Gr.). Stanhofu stodan.

1402–3.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 217. 1 stanetrogh et 1 tretrogh.

1420.  Engl. Misc. (Surtees), 12. The stane house toward the kynges strete.

c. 1483.  in Nicolas, Chron. Lond. (1827), 7. In this yere the stone brigge of Londone was first begoune to make.

1552.  Huloet, Stone crosse, pyramis.

a. 1578.  Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 176. [He] bigit money stain house.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 333. A very goodly stone bridge of arch-work.

1663.  Gerbier, Counsel, 18. The Stone or wooden Figure.

a. 1672.  Wood, Life (O.H.S.), I. 43. M. Anthony Wood … was borne in an antient stone-house opposite … Merton Coll.

a. 1728.  Woodward, Fossils Method, II. 39. The Stone-Weapons,… were all cut out, and made, before the Discovery of Iron.

1766.  Smollett, Trav., I. 351. The olives … are … ground into a paste by a mill-stone, set edge-ways into a circular stone-trough. Ibid., II. 46. A range of antient Roman stone-coffins.

1776.  G. Semple, Building in Water, 89. The Water that had fallen on the Urn from the Lime-stone … had petrified and made a Stone-crust on the outside thereof.

1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. Plate XIII, A common stone roller … for rolling arable lands.

1829.  Scott, Anne of G., xiv. The sword, escaping from his hold, rolled on the stone floor with a heavy clash.

1833.  Tennyson, Lady Clara, 23. The lion on your old stone gates.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxii. At last he reached a stone hall.

1841.  Brees, Gloss. Civil Engin., 24. Stone blocks were introduced in place of wooden sleepers.

1908.  [Miss E. Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 29. A stone quern.

  b.  Made of stoneware; also transf. of ginger-beer contained in stoneware bottles.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Mark xiv. 3. & mið-ðy ʓebrocen wæs þæt stan fæt to-dælde … ofer heafud his.

1479–81.  Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 101. Item, for a stone potte to put in oyle, j d ob.

1547.  Test. Ebor. (Surtees), VI. 256. My stone cup withe the silver cover.

c. 1600.  Acc. Bk. W. Wray, in Antiquary, XXXII. 80. Beate them well in a stone morter.

1626.  in Jewitt, Life Wedgwood (1865), 37. To grant vnto them our royall priveledge for ‘The sole making of the Stone Potte, Stone Jugge, and Stone Bottle,’ within our Dominions.

1642.  Rates of Merchandizes, 54. Stonebirds or Whistles. [Cf. Ibid., 57. Whistles, cocks or Birds of stone.]

1676.  Worlidge, Vinet. Brit., 103. Glass-bottles are preferr’d to Stone-bottles, because that Stone-bottles are apt to leak.

a. 1756.  Eliza Haywood, New Present (1771), 215. Always keep your pickles in stone jars.

1782.  Cowper, Gilpin, 66. Mistress Gilpin … Had two stone bottles found, To hold the liquor that she lov’d.

1851–4.  Tomlinson, Cycl. Arts (1867), II. 196/2. The contents of the basket are turned into a stone or iron vessel.

1884.  B’ham Daily Post, 28 July, 3/4. Mineral water Trade … stone beer.

1904.  H. Beswick, Last Karkawber, etc. 37. While I sipped my stone-ginger.

  c.  Applied to substances in a solid or massive (as distinct from liquid or powdered) form, as stone alum, STONE-BLUE, stone ochre, STONE-PITCH.

1608.  Topsell, Serpents, 42. Mustard-seede three scruples,… Stone Allom and Opopanax, of either halfe an ounce.

1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 802. A thin coat of gold size … composed of stone ochre ground in fat oil.

  d.  Of, pertaining or relating to stone or stones (in various senses).

1826.  A. C. Hutchison, Pract. Observ. Surg., 313. The paucity of stone cases occurring in tropical climates.

1833.  Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 1244. Constructing them … either on the wooden model or the stone model.

1879.  Ruskin, Hortus Incl. (1887), 67. It is delightful of you to be interested in that stone book.

1911.  W. W. Skeat, in Folk-lore (1912), XXIII. 60. The best-known stone superstition is that the celt was a thunderbolt.

  e.  ellipt. Belonging to the STONE AGE.

1864.  J. Hunt, trans. Vogt’s Lect. Man, xii. 340. The stone skull … is still narrower than the Lapp skull. Ibid., 368. The stone people of Europe knew of no metal.

1880.  Dawson, Fossil Man, i. (1883), 7. The earlier Stone folk are known to us only by their graves.

  f.  (from 11.) Of male domestic animals: Not castrated, entire, as stone-ass, -colt, -ram, STONE-HORSE; † hence allusively of men = lascivious, lustful, as stone-priest, -puritan.

1602.  Chettle, Hoffman, II. (1631), C 3. I could helpe you now to a stone mule, a *stone-asse.

a. 1722.  Lisle, Husb. (1757), 355. A mare takes a stone-ass.

1691.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2710/4. A Cream-coloured young *Stone-Colt.

1778.  Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2), Benager … near Mendip-hills; has a fair for stone colts at Whitsuntide.

1608.  Merry Devil Edmonton, IV. i. (facs.), E 1. The *stone Priest steales more venison then halfe the country.

1663.  Dryden, Wild Gallant, V. ii. Who have I got, a Stone-Priest by this good Light.

1614.  B. Jonson, Barth. F., III. ii. Fine ambling hypocrites! and a *stone-puritane.

1764.  Ann. Reg., II. 10/1. Their winter garment is made of deer or *stone-ram skins with the hair on.

  g.  With preceding numeral, forming an attrib. or adj. phrase, in sense (a) set with a (specified) number of (precious) stones; (b) weighing (so many) stone; hence transf. applied to the prize in a race in which the horses carry the specified weight.

1683.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1865/8. A Seven Stone Diamond Ring. Ibid. (1705), No. 4149/4. A 12 Stone Plate … will be run for … by Hunters.

  18.  Obvious Combinations (unlimited in number): a. attrib. as stone-heap, -marl (MARL sb.¹ 1 b), -merchant, -quarry, -ship, -volley, -worship, etc. b. objective, etc., as stone-caster, -digger, -gatherer, † -graver, -hewer, -setter, -shooter, -worshipper; stone-casting, -cleaving, -darting, -eating, -moving, -rolling, -throwing, -worshipping sbs. and adjs.; stone-like adj.; c. instrumental, locative, and parasynthetic, as stone-builder; stone-arched, -bladed, -built, -coated, -edged, -faced, -floored, † -living (living in stone), -paved, -pillared, -ribbed, -roofed, etc., adjs.; stone-face vb.

1822.  Scott, Nigel, x. The old *stone-arched hall.

1893.  H. Balfour, in 6th Ann. Rep. Univ. Mus. Oxford, 24. *Stone-bladed axe.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. x. Spade-men, barrow-men, *stone-builders.

1913.  Sir H. Johnston, Pioneers Australasia, viii. 266. This vanished race of stonebuilders, whose works stretch across the Pacific.

1798.  Times, 28 June, 4/1. A large *stone-built Farm House.

1598.  Grenewey, Tacitus, Ann., II. v. (1622), 39. The Captaine … commaunded the sling-casters and *stone-casters to let freely at them.

a. 1400.  Octovian, 895. At wrestelyng, and at *ston castynge, He wan the prys.

1644.  Digby, Nat. Soul, Concl. 457. In halfe yeare nights;… in perpetuall *stonecleauing coldes.

1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 866/2. Stone cleaving Machine … for dividing granite.

1767.  Phil. Trans., LVII. 411. A clean *stone-coated retort.

1769.  Pennant, Brit. Zool., III. 145. The stone-coated worms which the fishermen call hadock meat.

1599.  Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, 12. Their *ston-darting engines.

1562.  in Archæologia, XXXVI. 301. To Dorye the *stone dyggere … for xxxiij. dayes dyggynge of stone and chalke.

1864.  in Life W. Pennefather (1879), 389. Including stone-diggers, there were representatives from more than thirty … villages.

1815.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xii. (1818), I. 391. The *stone-eating caterpillars recorded in the Memoirs of the French Academy … are now known to erode the walls … solely for the purpose of forming their cocoons.

1895.  K. Grahame, Golden Age, 45. Terrace of shaven sward, *stone-edged.

1852.  Wiggins, Embanking, 125. The cost of *stone facing a sea-bank.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., VIII. 375. Where huge and hilly lands Haue *stone-fac’d scurrile bounds.

1874.  Contemp. Rev., Oct., 762. The churches are proud of their stone-faced interiors.

1841.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, lviii. A *stone-floored room.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2396/2. *Stone-gatherer, a machine for picking up loose surface stones in fields.

1894.  Lady M. Verney, Verney Mem., III. 132. Stone-gatherers should be set to work on some of the fields.

1530.  Tindale, Exod. xxviii. 11. After the worke of a *stonegrauer … shalt thou graue the .ii. stones with the names of the childern of Israel.

1904.  Spencer & Gillen, North. Tribes Central Australia, xxiii. 671. A *stone-headed spear.

1382.  Wyclif, 2 Kings x. 8. Puttith hem at the two *stone hepis [Vulg. ad duos acervos].

1579–80.  North, Plutarch, Alcib. (1595), 217. Many carpenters, masons, *stone hewers, and other workmen.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. VI. viii. Heavy Monge the Mathematician, once a stone-hewer.

1776.  Da Costa, Elem. Conchol., 2. A Shell … a kind of *stone-like calcareous covering … in which the whole animal … lives included as in a house.

1855.  Lynch, Rivulet, XXVI. i. While the law on stone is written, Stone-like is the mighty word.

1631.  W. Foster, Sponge Weapon-salve, 25. But of Saxanimalia *stone-living creatures never did I heare.

1760.  R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, II. 44. Cow-shut or *stone-marle is commonly found under clay.

1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 238. It is distinguished into shell, clay, and stone marle … the stone marle has different proportions of sand united with the calcareous matter and the clay.

1610.  Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, XVIII. xiii. 678. The fiction … of Amphion and his *stone-moouing musicke.

a. 1593.  Marlowe, Ovid’s Elegies, III. i. 3. A *stone-pau’d sacred spring.

1819.  Scott, Leg. Montrose, xiii. On the floor of a damp and stone-paved dungeon.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, VII. lvi. I. 188. Cadmus … found out *stone quarries first.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. VI. iii. He has to fly again, to skulk, round Paris, in thickets and stone-quarries.

1817.  Scott, Harold, IV. i. 2. The long Gothic aisle and *stone-ribb’d roof.

1606.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. I. Tropheis, 1045. *Stone-rowling Tay.

1903.  Daily Chron., 31 March, 9/1. Wheelbarrow races and stone-rolling competitions.

1825.  R. Wilson, Hist. Hawick, 56. The building … being *stone-roofed, was preserved.

1725.  Lond. Gaz., No. 6432/5, Simon Dyer,… *Stone-setter.

1849.  W. R. O’Byrne, Naval Biog. Dict., 850/2. An attempt to sink two *stone-ships at the entrance of the harbour.

1895.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 700. Two archers, two slingers, three *stone-shooters.

1598.  Grenewey, Tacitus, Ann., XIII. ix. (1622), 191. The sling-casters and *stone-throwers had a place appointed them.

1880.  Goldw. Smith, Cowper, ii. 32. He … became the mark for a little *stone-throwing.

1881.  W. E. Forster, in T. W. Reid, Life (1888), II. 321. An obstructing, stone-throwing mob.

1861.  M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 45. A *stone-vaulted kitchen.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. III. viii. It has passed from … duelling … to street-fighting; to *stone-volleys and musket-shot.

1838.  Akerman, in Numism. Jrnl., I. 216. The *stone-worship of the ancients illustrated by their coins.

1844.  Lingard, Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858), I. iv. 152, note. We forbid *stone-worshippings.

  19.  In adverbial comb. with adjs. or pples., in similative sense (cf. phrases in 3), and hence occas. as a mere intensive (= very, completely): as in stone-asleep, † -astonied, -cold, -dead, -deaf, -dumb, -hard, † -naked, † -old (Sc. stane-auld), -silent; STONE-BLIND, also STONE-STILL adv. and adj. Also with adjs. of color (which may also be used as sbs.), as stone-brown, -buff, -grey.

1826.  Hood, Last Man, 64. The folks were all *stone-asleep.

1596.  R. L[inche], Diella (1877), 60. *Stone-astonied, like a Deare at gaze.

1894.  R. B. Sharpe, Birds Gt. Brit., I. 65. Eggs.—Four to six in number. Ground-colour, *stone-brown … scribbled and blotched all over with black.

1882–4.  Yarrell’s Brit. Birds (ed. 4), III. 561. The nestling is of a *stone-buff on the upper parts.

1592.  Breton, Pilgr. Paradise (Grosart), 12/1. Thou *stone-colde hart.

1836.  T. Hook, G. Gurney, I. 139. The lamb was stone cold, and the fish boiled to pieces.

1855.  Milman, Lat. Chr., XIV. iii. (1864), IX. 123. His text-book was the rigid, stone-cold Sentences of Peter the Lombard.

c. 1290.  St. Agnes, 76, in S. Eng. Leg., 183. He fel a-doun *stan-ded.

1531.  Tindale, Expos. 1 John (1537), 55. We were stone dead and wythout lyfe or power to do or consent to good.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. xi. 43. As when Ioues harnesse-bearing Bird from hie Stoupes at a flying heron … The stone-dead quarrey fals.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, II. (Globe), 331. He dropt down stone-dead.

1888.  Bryce, Amer. Commw., lxxxix. III. 217. Keep up the fight until it [the power of corruption] is stone dead.

1837.  Lockhart, Life Scott (1839), IX. 197. A man almost literally *stone-deaf could not discharge … the highest duties of a parish-priest in a satisfactory manner.

1872.  A. J. C. Hare, Story of my Life (1900), IV. xvi. 50. She is quite stone-deaf, so we … correspond on a slate.

1888.  F. R. Stockton, in Century Mag., Feb., 622. I did say to myself … Now Elizabeth is so *stone dumb that she’ll jus’ stay here an’ do the little I tell her to do.

1878.  Trimen, Regiments Brit. Army, 21. Its uniform when raised was stone-grey.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 884. & steken þe ȝates *ston-harde wyth stalworth barrez.

a. 1400.  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., 618/222. Iewes ston-hard in sinnes merk.

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., IV. iv. 227. The murd’rous Knife was dull and blunt, Till it was whetted on thy stone-hard heart.

1875.  Tennyson, Q. Mary, I. v. He is … Stone-hard, ice-cold—no dash of daring in him.

c. 1450.  Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb.). 77. Ȝe tirvid hym *stone naked aȝeinward scornfully.

c. 1800.  Johnnie o Cocklesmuir, xi. in Child, Ballads, III. 9. By there came a *stane-auld man.

1862.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XII. x. (1865), IV. 235. Friedrich … was *stone-silent on this matter.

  20.  Special comb.: † stone-bag, ? a bag carried on board ship, containing stones to be used as shot; stone-bark Bot., bark consisting chiefly of hardened and thickened cells (cf. stone-cell); stone-barrow [BARROW sb.³], a barrow for carrying stones; † stone-binder OSTEOCOLLA; stone-boiler, one who practises stone-boiling; stone-boiling, the process of boiling water by putting hot stones in it, as practised by certain primitive tribes; stone-brash [BRASH sb.²], a subsoil consisting of loose broken stone; also attrib.; stone-breaker, a person employed in, or a machine used for, breaking stones; so stone-breaking; stone-broke a. slang, ‘hard up,’ ruined (cf. stony-broke, STONY a. 6 c); stone-buckle, a buckle set with precious stones; stone-butter [after G. steinbutter; cf. rock-butter BUTTER sb.¹ 3], a name for alum occurring in soft masses greasy to the touch; stone-canal Zool., a canal forming part of the water-vascular system in Echinoderms, usually with calcareous walls, leading from the madreporic plate to the circumoral water vessel; † stone-case, (a) ? an enclosed millstone for grinding apples for cider; (b) a case to contain a stone; stone-cell Bot., one of a number of greatly hardened and thickened cells occurring in certain plants; stone-china, a kind of stoneware (see quot. 1825); stone circle Archæol., = CIRCLE sb. 12; † stone-colic, colic attributed to the presence of a stone the kidneys (see 10); stone-colo(u)r, the (usual) color of stone, a yellowish or brownish grey, also attrib.; so stone-colo(u)red a.; stone-crusher, a machine for crushing or grinding stone, a stone-breaker; stone-delf (now dial.) a stone-quarry; † stone-doublet slang, a prison; † stone-drawer, (a) a surgical instrument for extracting a stone from the bladder; (b) a man who digs stone from a quarry, a quarryman; stone-dresser, one who dresses or shapes stone for building; also, a machine for this purpose; so stone-dressing (also attrib.); stone-drop (nonce-wd.), poetic name for a stalactite; stone-eared a., ‘hard of hearing,’ deaf (in quot. in fig. sense); stone-eater, a conjuror who pretends to swallow stones (see also 20 b); stone-element Bot., a hard element of tissue (cf. stone-cell); stone-engraving, the art or process of engraving on stone, lithography; stone era = stone period; stone-etching, the art or process of etching on stone; stone-eyed a., (a) ? having the eyes fixed or motionless; (b) dull-sighted, ‘blind’ (fig.); stone-fall, a fall of meteoric stones, or of loose stones on a mountain slope; stone fence, (a) a fence made of stones, a stone wall; (b) U.S. slang, name for various intoxicating drinks (see quots.); stone-gall [GALL sb.² 4]: see quot.; stone-getter, a workman who gets stone from a quarry, a quarryman; † stone-glass = glass-stone (see GLASS sb.¹ 16); stone-grave, † (a) = stone-pit; (b) a prehistoric grave containing stone implements (also attrib.); † stone-grist, ? the privilege of using a grindstone; stone-ground a., ground by means of millstones: cf. stone-mill (c); † stone-gun, a gun for firing stone shot; stone-hammer, a hammer for breaking or rough-dressing stones; stone hand (Printing) = STONEMAN¹; stone harmonicon: see quot., and cf. rock harmonicon (ROCK sb.¹ 9); stone-head, the top of the stratum of solid stone or bed-rock beneath the loose or soft superficial deposit; also = next; stone heading Coal Mining, a heading driven through stone or rock; stone-hearted (now rare) = STONY-HEARTED; stone-heled (-healed, -hilled) a. [HELE v.² 2], covered or roofed with stone (obs. or dial.); stone-honey (see quot.); † stone-hook, ? one of a pair of hooks for lifting blocks of stone; stone-knife House-painting, a larger form of palette-knife used for mixing colors on the slab; stone-layer (? obs.), a workman who lays stones in building (cf. bricklayer); stone-laying, the laying of stones in building; spec. the ceremonial laying of the foundation-stone of a public building, esp. a church; stone-lifter, (a) a machine for hoisting stones; (b) a name for the Australian fish Kathetostoma læve, of the family Uranoscopidæ; stone-lime, lime made from limestone (as distinguished from chalk-lime); stone-marble Bookbinding, one of the many ways of marbling books; † stone marl = next; stone marrow [after G. steinmark, latinized by Agricola as stenomarga], name for a kind of spongy limestone (= LITHOMARGE); stone-mill, (a) a mill for grinding stone, a stone-crusher; (b) a machine for dressing stones; (c) a mill in which millstones (not rollers) are used for grinding the flour; so stone-milled a. = stone-ground; † stone-mushroom, ? = mushroom coral (MUSHROOM 6 c); † stone-nail, ? a nail for fixing stone slates (cf. STONE-BROD); stone-oil, a name for a kind of bitumen (see quot. 1838), or for petroleum or rock-oil; also erron. applied to a mixture of petrosilex and water used as a glaze for pottery; stone period Archæol., = STONE AGE; also, a portion of the stone age; also attrib.; stone-pit, a pit from which stones are dug, a quarry; stone-plant, † (a) a fossil or petrified plant (= ROCK-PLANT 1); (b) a plant growing in stony or rocky places (= ROCK-PLANT 2); stone-pock Path., a hard suppurating pimple; a disease characterized by such pimples, as acne: stone-polisher, one engaged in polishing stones for building or other purposes; also, a machine for this purpose; so stone-polishing (also attrib.); stone-printer, a lithographic printer; stone-put Sc. [PUT sb.¹ 2] = STONE’S THROW; † stone-roche = ROCK sb.¹ 2 a; stone-saw, a saw, usually without teeth, for cutting stone into blocks or other shapes for building or other purposes; stone-sawyer, a man who works a stone-saw; stone-sclerenchyma Bot., sclerenchyma or hard tissue formed of stone-cells; stone-shower, a shower or fall of meteoric stones; † stone-shrub, name for a kind of coral; stone-slate, a roofing slate made of thin stone; stone-square Brewing, a square fermenting-tank made of stone; stone-squarer, one who squares or shapes stone for building, a stone-cutter, stone-dresser; stone tint = stone-colo(u)r; stone-turf, ? a hard or compact kind of turf; stone-user, one who uses stone for weapons, etc., a man of the STONE AGE; so stone-using a.; † stone-wring (Sc. stane-), ? = stone-colic; stone-yard, a yard in which stone-breaking or stone-cutting is done; fig. a part of the sea full of rocks. See also STONE AGE, STONE-AX, STONE-BLIND, STONE-BOAT, STONE-BOW, etc.

1346.  MS. Acc. Exch. K. R. 25/7. no 2. In emendacione … iiij. anulorum ferri pro iiij. *stonbagges et ij. ligulis ferreis pro le top castel.

1388.  in Nicolas, Hist. Royal Navy (1847), II. 476. iii. stonebagges febles.

1884.  Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 540. In other cases [these cells] form larger groups,… inserted in the soft tissue, the number and size of which may increase in the older parts of the cortex … so that the old cortex has been appropriately termed *‘stone-bark’ by Hartig.

c. 1470.  Henryson, Mor. Fab., XIII. (Frog & Mouse), xx. To the war better beir the *stane barrow, Than to be matchit with ane wickit marrow.

1480–1.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 96. Pro factura unius hollbarowe et 2 stane-barowes, 6d.

1791.  G. Wallis, Motherby’s Med. Dict. (ed. 3), 563/2. Osteites, Osteocolla, called also … *stone-binder.

1865.  Tylor, Early Hist. Man., ix. 262. A North American tribe,… the Assinaboins or *‘Stone-Boilers.’ Ibid. This intermediate process, which I propose to call *Stone-Boiling.

1883.  trans. Joly’s Man before Metal, II. i. 204, note. The process known as ‘stone-boiling,’ which consists in obtaining boiling water by means of stones heated directly in the fire and then dropped in the water.

1677.  Plot, Oxfordsh., 242. Another sort of Land they call *Stone-brash, consisting of a light lean Earth and a small Rubble-stone.

1794.  T. Davis, Agric. Wilts, 149. The stone-brash land in the northwest part of the district.

1860.  Times, 4 Jan., 10/5. A flinty chalk sucks its surface dry, a thin stonebrash soil lets the rain run through it.

1843.  Bethune, Scott. Peasant’s Fire-side, 127. My attention was arrested by one of the *stonebreakers.

1868.  Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 355. The cost … has … been … reduced by the introduction of the ‘Blake Stone-Breaker.’

1851.  Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 357. We found that we could obtain employment at *stone-breaking.

1873.  Spons’ Dict. Engin., VII. 2544. Blake’s Stone-breaking Machine.

1888.  Rutley, Rock-Forming Min., 12. Not every kind of hammer … is suitable for stone-breaking.

1888.  F. Hume, Mme. Midas, I. ii. I’m nearly *stone broke.

1889.  Besant, Bell of St. Paul’s, I. 7. The stone-broke sporting man.

1748.  Smollett, Rod. Rand., xliv. A set of *stone buckles for the knees and shoes.

1756.  A. Murphy, Apprentice, I. i. Wearing stone-buckles, and cocking his hat.

1796.  Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), II. 14. [Alum] is found in soft brittle masses, that feel somewhat greasy, and thence called by the Germans *Stone Butter.

1887.  H. Bury, in Phil. Trans., CLXXIX. II. 277. The tube thus formed … is the equivalent of the *‘stone-canal’ of other Echinoderms.

1664.  Dr. Smith, in Evelyn’s Pomona, 46. The Cider that is ground in a *Stone-case is generally accused to taste unpleasantly of the Rinds, Stems and Kernels of the Apples.

1664.  Pepys, Diary, 27 Aug. Thence to my case-maker for my stone case. [Cf. 19 Aug. ante … a case, for to keep my stone, that I was cut of, in.]

1884.  Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 540. *‘Stone-cells’ in the external cortex.

1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 479. *Stone-china is formed of a compound of Cornish-stone and clay, blue clay, and flint.

1847.  Dickens, Haunted Man, i. It’s surprising how stone-chaney catches the heat, this frosty weather.

1827.  G. Higgins, Celtic Druids, 234. From these stones, the place became called the place of the *stone circle.

1831.  Scott, Ct. Robt., xx. The practice of youths and maidens plighting their troth at the stone circles dedicated, as it was supposed, to Odin.

1901.  Scotsman, 12 March, 4/8. Six distinct varieties of stone circles.

1603.  Florio, Montaigne, III. xiii. 651. Since I have had the *stone-chollike.

1695.  Phil. Trans., XIX. 77. Nephritick Pains, commonly called, the Stone-Colick.

1663.  Gerbier, Counsel, 83. A fair *Stone-colour in oyl.

1762–71.  H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), II. 193. In a corner in stone colour is a statue of peace.

1808.  Fashionable Biogr., 75. Light stone-colour musquito pantaloons.

1894.  R. B. Sharpe, Birds Gt. Brit., I. 34. In some specimens the ground-colour of the egg is yellowish or creamy stone-colour.

1770.  Phil. Trans., LXI. 254. A kind of light *stone-coloured varnish.

c. 1850.  Lytton, in Life & Lett. (1883), I. 117. A comely plump matron in a stone-coloured silk gown.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2391/1. *Stone-crusher, a mill for grinding stone or ore.

1912.  C. P. Markham, in Blackw. Mag., Aug., 265/2. These wagons are emptied direct into a stone-crusher, which is the largest in the world.

972[?].  Charter of Eadgar, in Birch, Cartul. Sax., III. 586. Andlang sices to þan *stan ʓedelfe.

1356.  in Owen & Blakeway, Hist. Shrewsbury (1825), II. 462, note. Versus le Whyte stanydelf.

1894.  Yorks. Weekly Post, Xmas No. 1. Boggart Hole is a forsaken stone-delf.

1694.  Motteux, Rabelais, IV. xii. In danger of miserably rotting within a *stone Doublet.

1767.  Thornton, trans. Plautus, II. 322, note. He talks of the prison as of a garment; like as the cant-word is with us,… a Stone-doublet.

1775.  Jekyll, Corr. (1894), 19. A stone doublet, which fathers have a legal right to clap upon their sons for extravagance.

1597.  A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 16 b/2. A little *stone-drawer, may be vsed to drawe out a bullet.

1703.  T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 19. An ancient experienced Stone drawer.

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Stone-dresser, one who tools, smooths, and shapes stone for building purposes.

1875.  [see STONE-CUTTER 1 b].

1845.  Builder, 15 Feb., 83/2. *Stone Dressing Machinery.

1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 728. Constant exposure to dust … as in … stone-dressing.

1810.  Southey, Kehama, XIII. v. Hung Like *stone-drops from the cavern’s fretted height.

1895.  C. Coupe, in Dublin Rev., April, 356. Had Mr. Swinburne been less stone-eyed and less *stone-eared, less blinded by prejudice, [etc.].

1820.  Scott, Monast., Answ. Introd. Ep. The guisards, the *stone-eater, and other amusements of the season.

1884.  Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 127. The *stone-elements (‘stone-cells’ of the Pharmacologists), so called after the stony bodies in the flesh and stalk of many pears, which are composed of them.

1891.  Century Dict., *Stone-engraving.

1911.  Macewen, Hist. Ch. Scot., I. vii. 144. The Scottish type of Stone-engraving is distinctively national.

1873.  Math. Blind, trans. Strauss’ Old Faith & New, 231. This *stone-era already bears a certain stamp of civilization.

1807.  J. Landseer, Lect. Engraving, 143. The *Stone-etching is calculated … to render a faithful fac-simile of a painter’s sketch.

1890.  Hall Caine, Bondman, I. v. Stephen Orry grew woebegone and *stone-eyed.

1895.  [see stone-eared above].

1868.  Lockyer, Elem. Astron., § 316. A third *stonefall occurred at Orgueil, in the south of France, on the … 14th of May, 1864.

1901.  Westm. Gaz., 26 July, 5/3. The mountain this year is more difficult than usual…. Stone-falls have been frequent.

1809.  *Stone-fence [see COBBLER 3].

1844.  ‘J. Slick,’ High Life N. York, I. 37. I might as well a been talking to a stun fence.

1856.  Kingsley, in Life & Lett., xiv. (1879), II. 29. Climbing cliffs, and shoving down stone fences.

1859.  Fowler, Southern Lights, 52. A Stone fence. Ginger-beer and brandy.

1872.  Schele de Vere, Americanisms, 217. Now he is asked to take a Stone Fence, and now a Railroad, but both are simple whiskey.

1889.  Pall Mall Gaz., 20 June, 3/2. ‘Stone fence’ is the euphonious cognomen given to whisky which is drunk with cider instead of water.

1850.  Ogilvie, *Stone-gall, the name given by workmen to a roundish mass of clay, often occurring in variegated sandstone. Stone-galls lessen the value of stones for building.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. 394/1. The Mattock … is much used with *stone Getters in Quarries.

1870.  Inquiry Yorksh. Deaf & Dumb, 4. He has been employed as a stone-getter, and stone-dresser.

1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 413/2. Glasse stone, or *stone glasse, which may be cut into very small and thin panes, which in old time they vsed in stead of glasse windowes.

c. 1205.  Lay., 31881. Þat folc flah in to wuden … leien in þa *stan-graffen.

1878.  J. C. Southall, Epoch of Mammoth, xv. 264. Another find of this sort … occurring in a large stone-grave near Stubnitz.

1883.  Science, II. 25/1. Mound-builders and stonegrave people.

1235–52.  Rentalia Glastonb. (Somerset Rec. Soc.), 224. Henricus Faber pro j *stanegrist xijd. per annum.

1905.  F. Fox, in Macm. Mag., Nov., 50. It is hoped the public are beginning to insist upon having *stone-ground flour.

1495.  Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 194. *Stone gonnes of yron in the Wast of the seid Shipp.

1411.  in Finchale Priory Charters, etc. (Surtees), p. clviii. Item ij *stanehammers. Item ij hamers pro sclattis.

1533–4.  in W. H. St. John Hope, Windsor Castle (1913), I. 264. For iij stone hamors ffor the bryklayers to work wyth … xviij^d.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2398/1. Stone-hammer, a chipping hammer used by stonemasons in rough-dressing stone.

1896.  Daily News, 7 Dec., 12/5. Overseer wanted for Evening and Weekly. Must be a … smart *stone hand.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Stone Harmonicon, a musical instrument consisting of a number of bars or slabs of stone,… played like the dulcimer.

1708.  J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 15. To dig till we sink down to the *Stone head.

1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 242. Stone-head. 1. A heading driven in stone. 2. (N.) The first hard stratum met with underlying quicksand.

1892.  Labour Commission, Gloss., *Stone Headings, Drivages other than coal formed in stone.

1569.  T. Norton, Warn. agst. Papists, A ij. He is obstinately *stone harted.

1640.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Differing Worships, 9. St. Steven … prayd … For his stone-hearted stony enemies.

1899.  Daily News, 11 Oct., 8/4. I would not be stone-hearted.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, I. xxxii. 46. Tyled, or *stone healed houses. Ibid., II. iii. 151. Olde walles & stonehilled houses.

1623.  G. Markham, Eng. Housew., 47. Take the iuice of red Fennell, and the iuyce of Sen greene and *stone hony, and mixe them very well together.

1623.  C. Butler, Fem. Mon., vi. (1634), 108. While it continueth liquid,… it is called Live-hony, when it is turned white and hard (euen like unto sugar) it is called Corn-hony, or Stone-hony.

1814.  trans. Klaproth’s Trav. Cauc., 263. The stone-honey … is dissolved in water, and drunk.

1909.  Westm. Gaz., 14 April, 4/1. The Chinese histories of 1,800 years ago,… frequently speak of ‘stone honey’ as coming from Tonquin and the various States of India.

1396–7.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 214. 1 par de *stanhokes.

1426–7.  Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 66. A peire stone hokis.

1875.  E. A. Davidson, House-painting, etc. 1. A *Stone Knife.

1562.  in Archæologia, XXXVI. 301. To one other *stone leyere for .x. dayes,… iiij s. ij d.

1669.  Canterb. Marriage Licences (MS.). John Mathewes,… stonelayer.

1562.  in Archæologia, XXXVI. 302. In Masonrye worke and *stone leynge.

1898.  J. T. Fowler, Durham Cathedral, 22. On the occasion of the stone-laying.

1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 867/1. *Stone lifter. Shepherd’s lifter … has a pair of eccentric lever griping jaws, pivoted in a frame.

1898.  Morris, Austral Eng., 441. Stone-lifter, a Melbourne name for the fish Kathetostoma læve.

1707.  Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 86. The *Stone-Lime is much the best for Land.

1847.  A. Smeaton, Builder’s Man., 27. Builders are accustomed … to use more sand with stone-lime than with chalk-lime.

1818.  Art Bookbinding, 82. *Stone marble.

1681.  Grew, Musæum, III. § iii. iii. 347. *Stone Marrow. Stenomarga Agricolæ, i. e. Saxi Medulla: because found between the Commissures of great Stones.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 771. Spongy limestone, usually called Agaric mineral, stone marrow, etc.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2398/2. *Stone-mill.

1901.  Daily Chron., 7 Aug., 7/6. Bread composed of *stone-milled flour.

1687.  *Stone-Mushromes [see stone-shrub].

1469–70.  in Swayne, Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896), 13. Et in iiij m’l clauis voc’ *stone nayle occupatis supra Capellam be’ Marie.

1586.  Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 31. For a quarterone of a thousand of stone nalles, vj^d. Ibid. (1612), 201. Twoe hundreth of stone naile for the leades, vij^d.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. 300/1. Stone Nails, or Lath Nails.

1838.  T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 721. This bitumen [found at Bechelbronn (Bas Rhin)] … is known in the neighbourhood under the name of *stone oil.

1880.  Janvier, Pract. Keramics, 154. The proportions … for the best glaze are about ten of petrosilex and water (stone-oil) to one of lime and water (fern oil, lime oil).

1849.  W. J. Thoms, trans. Worsaae’s Primeval Antiq. Denmark, II. iii. 106. The limits of the cromlechs of the *stone-period.

1864.  J. Hunt, trans. Vogt’s Lect. Man, xii. 342. The Lapps present … in their cranial structure a greater affinity with the stone-period people than with the Romanic-type.

1880.  Dawson, Fossil Man, i. (1883), 11. A still earlier Stone period, that more properly named the Palæolithic, appears to be indicated by [etc.].

c. 1325.  in Kennett’s Par. Antiq. (1818), I. 570. Quatuor rodæ terræ jacent super le *Staneputtes.

1525.  in Archæologia, XXV. 478. For dyggyng of xliiij lode of stone & for makyng of the stone pytte.

a. 1728.  Woodward, Nat. Hist. Fossils, I. (1729), 107. Found frequently in the Stone-pits about Oxford.

1859.  Sporting Mag., Jan., 4. [The fox] went to ground in a stone-pit.

1676.  Phil. Trans., XI. 736. In a Mine where the *Stone-plants grow.

1883.  Stevenson, Silverado Sq., 236. About the spurs of the tall pine, a red flowering stone-plant hung in clusters.

1818–20.  E. Thompson, Cullen’s Nosol. Meth. (ed. 3), 332. Acne; *Stone Pock.

1822–9.  Good’s Study Med. (ed. 3), V. 584. When this species becomes inflamed, it lays a foundation for a varus or stone-pock.

1704.  Collect. Voyages & Trav., III. 656/1. The *Stone-Polishers make them thinner.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Stone-polishing Machine, a machine for giving the final dressing and gloss to the surface of stone.

1819.  J. Hodgson, in J. Raine, Mem. (1857), I. 260. I called … at a *stoneprinter’s in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

1896.  N. Munro, Lost Pibroch (1902), 70. A *stone-put further.

c. 1200.  Vices & Virtues, 45. For us eft to warnin wið ðo *stanroches of ðe harde hierte.

1843.  Holtzapffel, Turning, I. 169. The *stone-saw, a smooth iron blade fed with sand and water.

1890.  ‘M. Rutherford,’ Miriam’s Schooling, etc. 155. He sat at one end of the heavy stone-saw, with David Trevenna, his servant, at the other.

1845.  G. Dodd, Brit. Manuf., IV. 17. If we watch … a *stone-sawyer, we shall … see that the saw frequently ‘jars.’

1884.  Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 540. The formation of *stone-sclerenchyma.

1687.  A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 166. We bought of these poor Greeks several stone-Mushromes, which in that place are got out of the Red-sea; as also small *Stone-shrubs, or branches of Rock, which they call white Coral.

1530.  Palsgr., 706/1. I sclate a house with *stone slates, je couuers de pierre.

1880.  Sir E. Beckett, Book on Building (ed. 2), 183. In some places a thin kind of stone slates are used,… they make picturesque roofs, but rather heavy.

1882.  E. G. Hooper, Man. Brewing (ed. 2), 237. There is another system of fermentation … known as the *stone-square system. The fermenting tank here is a large square, constructed of stone.

1888.  F. Faulkner, Mod. Brewing (ed. 2), 187. The original closed box, denominated a Yorkshire stone square.

1611.  Bible, 1 Kings v. 18. And Solomons builders, and Hirams builders, did hewe them, and the *stone-squarers.

1833.  Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 235. The cement chimney shafts to be coloured … of a good warm *stone tint.

1797.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XII. 105/2. That called in England by the name of *stone-turf contains a considerable proportion of peat.

1915.  H. R. Hall, Anc. Hist. Near East, ii. 32. The earlier Greeks came then from Africa while they were still *stone-users.

1870.  Greenwell, in Jrnl. Ethnol. Soc. (N. S.), II. 420. The supply of flint [at Grime’s Graves], in itself a mine of wealth to a *stone-using people.

c. 1500.  Rowlis Cursing, 61, in Laing, Anc. Poet. Scot. The *stane-wring, stane and stane blind.

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Stone-yard, a contractor’s or other yard where paupers are set to break stones.

1886.  Stevenson, Kidnapped, xiii. 115. If I had kent of these reefs … it’s not sixty guineas … would have made me risk my brig in sic a stoneyard!

1899.  A. C. Benson, Life Abp. Benson, I. v. 161. A small walled garden … with a rockery of broken carvings from the stone-yards.

  b.  In names of animals, as stone-bass, † (a) a fish of the genus Pagrus, found in the West Indies; (b) a fish of the genus Polyprion (family Serranidæ), characterized by a bony ridge on the operculum, and serrated spines on the anal and ventral fins; stone-bird, (a) the vinous grosbeak = MORO³; (b) = stone-snipe (a); stone-biter, (a) the hawfinch; (b) Orkney & Shetl. the common cat-fish or wolf-fish [= Icel. steinbítr, Da. stenbider, Norw. steinbit, Du. steenbijter (Kilian)]; stone-borer, a bivalve mollusk that bores into stones or rocks; stone-cat, a N. American fresh-water cat-fish of the genus Noturus; stone-centipede, a centipede of the family Lithobiidæ, found in stony places; stone-coral, hard or sclerodermatous (as distinguished from sclerobasic), or massive (as distinguished from branching) coral; stone-crab, (a) name for various species of crab (see quots.); (b) applied locally in U.S. to the dobson or hellgrammite, the larva of a neuropterous insect, used as a bait in angling; stone-crawfish, a European species of crawfish or crayfish, Astacus torrentium; stone-cricket, a wingless insect of the genus Centhophilus or other genera of Locustidæ, found under or among stones; stone curlew, see CURLEW 3; stone-eater, = stone-borer; stone falcon [G. steinfalke (Gesner)], a name for the merlin; stone-fish, a name for various fishes harboring under stones (see quots.); stone-flower = STONE-LILY; stone-fox [= Du. steenvos], the Arctic fox, Canis lagopus; † stone-grig [GRIG sb.¹ 3], local name for a species of eel or lamprey; stone hawk = stone falcon; stone-lifter (see 20 a); stone-loach, a species of loach, Cobitis barbatula; stone-lugger = stone-roller; stone-marten, the beech-marten (Mustela foina), or its fur; stone-owl, U.S. the saw-whet owl, Nyctala acadica, which frequents quarries or rocks; stone-pecker (Sc. stane-), local name for the TURNSTONE, and for the purple sandpiper, Tringa striata or maritima; stone-perch, a small fish allied to the perch (= POPE sb.¹ 4, RUFF sb.¹ 2); stone-piercer = stone-borer; stone-plover, see PLOVER 2; stone-roller, name for two N. American fresh-water fishes (see quots., and cf. stone-lugger and stone-toter); stone-runner, a name for the ringed plover, or the dotterel; also applied to some species of sandpiper; stone-snipe, (a) the stone-curlew, Œdicnemus scolopax; (b) a large N. American bird of the snipe family, Totanus melanoleucus; also applied to other species of Totanus; stone-sponge, a lithistid sponge; stone-sucker, a fish belonging or allied to the genus PETROMYZON, a LAMPREY (see the etymologies of these words); stone-thrush, a local name of the missel-thrush; † stone-tivet [? TEWHIT], ? the lapwing; stone-toter [TOTE v.], a N. American fresh-water fish, Catostomus or Hypentelium nigricans, also called stone-lugger or stone-roller (see quot. 1817); also applied to the genus Exoglossum. See also STONEBUCK, STONECHAT, STONE-FLY, STONEHATCH, STONE-SMATCH.

1698.  Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 12. There is another Fish they call a *Stone-Bass,… of a Colour sandy, but has a Relish equal to our Soles.

1725.  Sloane, Jamaica, II. 286. Pagrus totus argenteus … A Stone-Basse. This is taken in all the Rivers of this Island,… they are altogether of a white Colour, and are … one of the best sort of Fish they have in Jamaica.

1822.  Couch in Trans. Linn. Soc., XIV. 81. Sciæna…. Stone Basse—This species, which is common in more southern latitudes … approaches the Cornish coast under peculiar circumstances. When a piece of timber covered with Barnacles is brought by the currents from the regions which these fishes inhabit, considerable numbers of them sometimes accompany it.

1883.  Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 270. Special Line,… used in fishing for Stone Bass or Wreck-fish.

1731.  Medley, Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, II. 157. There are in the Cape countries great numbers of Haw-Finches…. They are call’d likewise *Stone-Biters.

1743.  Phil. Trans., XLII. 612. Other Fish, as Sharks, Holly-butts,… Stone-biters.

1854.  A. Adams, etc. Man. Nat. Hist., 153. *Stone-borers (Saxicavidæ).

1882.  Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fishes N. Amer., 97. Noturus, *Stone Cats.

1854.  A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 266. *Stone-Centipedes (Lithobiidæ).

1880.  F. P. Pascoe, Zool. Classif., 32. Sclerodermata. (*Stone-corals.)

1713.  Petiver, Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ, Tab. i. Cancer saxatilis … *Stone Crab.

1853.  T. Bell, Stalk-eyed Crustacea, 165. Northern Stone-crab. Lithodes Maia.

1884.  Goode, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 772. The Stone Crab, Menippe mercenarius,… is one of the two edible species of Crabs occurring upon the Southern Atlantic coast of the United States.

1815.  S. Brookes, Conchol., 157. *Stone Eater. Mytilus lithophagus.

1854.  Woodward, Mollusca, II. 243. The boring shell-fish have been called ‘stone-eaters’ (lithophagi).

1656.  Blount, Glossogr., *Stonefaulcon (Lithofalus …) so called from the stones and rocks where she eyries, or builds her nest.

1678.  Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., II. ix. 80. The Stone-Falcon,… Falco Lapidarius.

1862.  Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., II. 77. The Merlin … from this habit of perching on pieces of stone … has derived the name of Stone Falcon.

1668.  Charleton, Onomast., 135. Alphestes … Belgis Stein-Fish, i.e. *Stone-fish.

1710.  Sibbald, Hist. Fife, 51. Gunnellus Cornubiensium, the Butter Fish of the English, our Fishers call it the Stone-fish.

1881.  Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., I. 204. Shanny or shan:… Stone-fish, Parnell.

1896.  Strand Mag., XII. 354/2. Another fish that is unpleasant to meet is that known as the stone-fish. It is small,… but its bite is poisonous. Apparently, it makes its home under the pearl shell, for it is only when picking up a shell that a diver is bitten.

1847.  Ansted, Anc. World, iii. 49. The simple forms of the crinoids or *stone-flowers.

1832.  J. Bree, St. Herbert’s Isle, 48. Through the night the hungry *stone-fox howls.

1884.  Chamb. Jrnl., 5 Jan., 10/1. The stone-foxes and wolverines having destroyed the provision depôts.

1666.  Merrett, Pinax, 188. Lampetra parva fluviatilis … Herefordiensibus, a *Stone Grig.

1736.  Ainsworth, The *stone hawk, lithofalco.

1863.  H. G. Adams, Birds of Prey, 46. The Merlin … makes its … nest … in the holes generally amid pieces of rock, hence one of its common names, Stone or Rock Hawk.

1825.  Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 697. When he essay’d to war on dace, bleak, bream, *stone-loach or pike.

1883.  Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., II. 204. Stone-loach, due to its fondness for secreting itself beneath a stone.

1882.  Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fishes N. Amer., 130. Catostomus nigricans, Stone Roller, Hammer-head; *Stone lugger. Ibid., 149. Campostoma anomalum, Stone-roller; Stone-lugger.

1841.  J. H. Fennell, Nat. Hist. Quadrupeds, 106, note. Besides beech marten, it is called *stone marten, martern, marteron, martlett, and mouse-hunt.

1882.  Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 463/1. Stone Marten … This fur is much esteemed throughout Europe.

1869–73.  T. R. Jones, Cassell’s Bk. Birds, II. 87. The *Stone Owls (Athene). Ibid. The Stone Owl Proper (Athene noctua).

1904.  Brit. Med. Jrnl., 17 Sept., 644. Transformations undergone by a blood parasite of the stone-owl when taken into the stomach of a mosquito.

1731.  Medley, Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, II. 157. The *Stone-pecker. The Dutch call this Bird Strand Loper, i. e. Shore-Courser.

1885.  Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 187. Turnstone … Stanepecker (Shetland Isles). Ibid., 194. Purple Sandpiper (Tringa striata) … Stanepecker (Shetland Isles).

1888.  Goode, Amer. Fishes, 2. The *Stone-perch, Pope, Ruffe,… which somewhat resembles the Perch,… is … not found in America.

1713.  Petiver, Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ, Tab. 19/13. Pholas … *Stone Peircer.

1768.  Pennant, Brit. Zool. (1776), I. 293. This [red-headed Linnet] seems to be the species known about London under the name of *stone redpoll.

1802.  Montagu, Ornith. Dict., s.v. Redpole, Lesser, Numbers [are] frequently taken about London…: it is there called Stone Redpole.

1882.  *Stone Roller [see stone-lugger].

1681.  Grew, Musæum, I. § 4. iv. 77. The Egg of a *Stonerunner.

1802.  Montagu, Ornith., s.v., Stone-runner, many of the Sandpipers so called.

1849.  Zoologist, VII. 2392. The ringed plovers are ‘stone-runners.’

1785.  Pennant, Arct. Zool., II. 468. *Stone Snipe. With a black bill: head, neck, and breast spotted with black and white…. Double the size of a Snipe.

1864.  Webster, Stone-snipe,… a large snipe (Gambella melanoleuca), common in the United States.

1887.  Cassell’s Encycl. Dict., Stone-snipe, stone-curlew,… Œdicnemus scolopax.

1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., Petromyzon, the *stone sucker,… a genus … comprehending the lamprey, etc.

1851.  Gosse, Nat. Hist., Fishes, 319. Petromyzonidæ. (Stone-suckers.)

1885.  Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 2. Missel Thrush…. *Stone thrush (Dorset).

1579.  E. Hake, Newes out of Powles, iv. (1872), D ij b. *Stonetiuets, Teale, and Pecteales good, with Busterds fat and plum.

1817.  Paulding, Lett. fr. South, II. 4 (Bartlett). The most singular fish in this part of the world is called the *stone-toter, whose brow is surmounted with several little sharp horns, by the aid of which he totes small flat stones … in order to make a snug little circular inclosure, for his lady to lie in safely.

1868.  Sir J. Richardson, etc., Mus. Nat. Hist., II. 123. The species of Exoglossum are named ‘Stone-toters,’ because they pile up little heaps of small stones, among which they deposit their spawn.

  c.  In names of plants (either growing in stony places, or having some part hard like stone), or their fruits, etc.: as † stone apple = stone pippin; stone basil, the wild basil, Calamintha Clinopodium, or basil-thyme, C. Acinos; stone-beech, a variety of the common beech (see quot.); stone-berry, the dwarf cornel of N. America, Cornus canadensis; stone-brake, the rock-brake or parsley-fern, Allosorus crispus; stone bramble, a species of bramble, Rubus saxatilis, growing in stony places, with bright red fruit; stone-clover, = HARE’S-FOOT 1; stone-fern, Asplenium Ceterach; also applied to other ferns growing in stony places (see quots.); † stone-grape, ? a grape with stones or hard seeds; stone-leek, the rock or Welsh onion, Allium fistulosum; in quot. 1904 app. misused for HOUSELEEK; stone-lichen, any lichen growing on stones or rocks; spec. Parmelia saxatilis (= STANERAW); stone liverwort = LIVERWORT 1; stone-mint, the American dittany, Cunila Mariana; † stone-moss, ? the orchil lichen, Roccella tinctoria; stone orpine, Sedum reflexum; † stone-pepper, an old name for STONECROP; † stone pippin, a variety of apple (? with hard fruit); stone-root, a N. American aromatic labiate herb, Collinsonia canadensis, also called horse-balm or rich-weed; † stone-rue, an old name for the fern WALL-RUE, Asplenium Ruta-muraria; stone-seed, English rendering of Lithospermum, a genus of Boraginaceæ, so called from their hard ‘seeds’ or capsules; stone-turnip, a variety of turnip; stone-weed, (a) = stone-seed; (b) local name for knotgrass, Polygonum aviculare; (c) ? a weed growing on stone or rock; stonewood, name for various trees with very hard wood (see quots.), or the wood itself. See also STONEBREAK, STONECROP, etc.

1741.  Compl. Family-Piece, II. iii. 383. Apples. [July.] Deux Ans or John Apple, *Stone Apple, Oaken Pin.

1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. ccxiii. 548. Acynos. *Stone Basill.

1886.  Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Basil, Field, Stone, or Wild. Book-names for Calamintha Clinopodium and C. Acinos.

1884.  Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 532. An … individual variation in those stems of Fagus silvatica occasionally occurring which are called *Stone-beeches, and are conspicuous from their thick, furrowed bark.

1837.  P. H. Gosse, in Life (1890), 107. Here the scarlet *stoneberry (Cornus Canadensis) was abundant.

1796.  Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), III. 304. Stone Fern. Crisped Fern. Parsley Fern. *Stone Brakes.

1744.  J. Wilson, Synopsis Brit. Plants, 117. Chamærubus saxatilis.… The *Stone-bramble, or Raspis.

1552.  Huloet, *Stoneferne herbe, Asplenium, Citrac, Scolopendra.

1777.  Jacob, Catal. Plants, 38. Pteris aquilina, Small-branched Stone-Fern.

1796.  [see stone-brake].

1820.  T. Green, Univ. Herbal, II. 218. Osmunda Crispa; Curled Osmunda, or Stone Fern.

1863.  Prior, Plant-n., Stone-fern, from its growth on stone-walls, Ceterach officinarum.

c. 1475.  Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 810/17. Hic acinus, a *stongrape.

1866.  Treas. Bot., 40/2. The Welsh Onion … is a native of Siberia and certain parts of Russia, where it is known as the Rock Onion, or *Stone Leek.

1904.  A. C. Benson, House of Quiet (1910), 164. The stone-leek on the roof of mellowed barns.

1861.  *Stone lichen [see STANERAW].

1854–67.  *Stone-mint [see DITTANY 5].

1681.  Grew, Musæum, III. § ii. i. 326. The several Styriæ or Capillary parts … growing together almost like those of the little *Stone-Moss.

1763.  in 6th Rep. Dep. Kpr. Publ. Rec., App. II. 132. Making Orchell from Rock or Stone Moss.

1777.  Robson, Brit. Flora, 318. Byssus aurea.… Saffron Byssus. Silken Stone-moss.

1866.  *Stone Orpine [see STONEHORE].

1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, Tables Eng. Names, Stone hore, that is *Stonepepper, or Stone crop.

1767.  Abercrombie, Ev. Man his own Gardener (1803), 671/2. Apples … Kirtin pippin, *Stone pippin.

1848.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer., 335. *Stone-root, a plant used in medicine. Its properties are diuretic and stomachic.

1872.  Schele de Vere, Americanisms, 399. The Stone-Root (Collinsonia canadensis), the flowers of which have an odor like lemons, is also known as Rich Weed from this fragrance.

1548.  Turner, Names Herbes, 86. Saluia vita or Ruta muralis … maye be called in english *Stone Rue, or wal Rue.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, III. lxviii. 408. Ruta Muraria, Stone Rue, or Wall Rue.

1833.  Wauldby Farm Rep., 105, in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb., III. The variety called the white *stone turnip.

1847.  Darlington, Amer. Weeds, 243. Field Lithospermum. *Stone weed. Gromwell…. Formerly a reputed cure for the stone in the bladder, from the stony-like appearance of its seeds.

1847.  Halliwell, Stoneweed, knot-grass. Suffolk.

1913.  M. Hewlett, in Engl. Rev., March, 534. Her garment … seemed to grow upon her as a creeping stone-weed grows.

1863.  Bates, Nat. Amazons, ix. 238. A suitable canoe … of about six tons’ burthen, strongly built of Itaüba or *stone-wood, a timber of which all the best vessels in the Amazons country are constructed.

1889.  Maiden, Usef. Plants Australia, 390. Callistemon salignus … ‘Stonewood.’ Ibid., 604. Tarrietia argyrodendron … ‘Stonewood.’