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stone definition

Overview

This page has 31 definitions of stone in English, French, and Middle English. Stone is a noun, verb, an adjective and adverb. Examples of how to use stone in a sentence are shown. Also define these 0 related words and terms: .

See also: Stone

English stone definition
Stones.

Etymology

From Middle English ston, stone, stan, from Old English stān, from Proto-West Germanic *stain, from Proto-Germanic *stainaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”).

See also Dutch steen, German Stein, Danish and Swedish sten, Norwegian stein; also Russian стена́ (stená, “wall”), Ancient Greek στία (stía, “pebble”), στέαρ (stéar, “tallow”), Persian ستون‎ (sotūn, “pillar”), Albanian shtëng (“hardened or pressed matter”), Sanskrit स्त्यायते (styāyate, “it hardens”)). Doublet of stein.

Pronunciation

Noun

stone (countable and uncountable, plural stones or (as unit of mass) stone)

  1. (uncountable) A hard earthen substance that can form large rocks.
    • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i], page 143, column 2:
      Toad, that vnder cold ſtone, / Dayes and Nights ha’s thirty one: / Sweltred Venom ſleeping got, / Boyle thou firſt i’th’ charmed pot.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, John 20:1:
      The first day of the weeke, commeth Mary Magdalene earely when it was yet darke, vnto the Sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the Sepulchre.
    • 1858, Edward Thornton, A Gazetteer of the Territories Under the Government of the East India Company and of the Native States on the Continent of India‎[1], W. H. Allen & Co., page 22:
      It is about 2,500 yards in circuit, is built of red stone, and, according to Von Orlich, is now " a bastioned quinquangle ; the ancient walls with semicircular bastions face the two streams ; the land side is quite regular, and consists of two bastions, and a half-bastion with three ravelins," and stands higher than any ground in face of it.
    • 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
      The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.
  2. A small piece of stone, a pebble.
  3. A gemstone, a jewel, especially a diamond.
  4. (Britain) A unit of mass equal to 14 pounds (≈6.3503 kilograms), formerly used for various commodities (wool, cheese, etc.), but now principally used for personal weight
    • 1843, The Penny Cyclopaedia, page 202:
      Seven pounds make a clove, 2 cloves a stone, 2 stone a tod, 6+1⁄2 tods a wey, 2 weys a sack, 12 sacks a last. […] It is to be observed here that a sack is 13 tods, and a tod 28 pounds, so that the sack is 364 pounds.
    • 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume IV, page 209:
      Generally, however, the stone or petra, almost always of 14 lbs., is used, the tod of 28 lbs., and the sack of thirteen stones.
    • 1992 October 3, Edwina Currie, Diary:
      Weighed myself at the gym and have hit 10st 8lb, a sure sign of things getting out of control—so I can’t even console myself with a chocolate biscuit.
  5. (botany) The central part of some fruits, particularly drupes; consisting of the seed and a hard endocarp layer.
    a peach stone
  7. (medicine) A hard, stone-like deposit.
    Synonym: calculus
    Hyponyms: kidney stone, nephrolith, gallstone, cholelith, sialolith, urolith
  8. (board games) A playing piece made of any hard material, used in various board games such as backgammon and go.
  9. A dull light grey or beige, like that of some stones.
    stone:  
  10. (curling) A 42-pound, precisely shaped piece of granite with a handle attached, which is bowled down the ice.
  11. A monument to the dead; a gravestone or tombstone.
    • 1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], published 1717, OCLC 43265629, page 434:
      Amid that scene, if ſome relenting eye
      Glance on the ſtone where our cold reliques lie.
    • 2013 November 25, Zayn Malik, “Story of My Life”, in Midnight Memories, Columbia Records; Syco Music:
      It seems to me that when I die / These words will be written on my stone […]
  12. (obsolete) A mirror, or its glass.
  13. (obsolete) A testicle.
  14. (printing, historical) A stand or table with a smooth, flat top of stone, commonly marble, on which to arrange the pages of a book, newspaper, etc. before printing.
    Synonym: imposing stone
    • 1965, George Murray, The Madhouse on Madison Street (page 38)
      The Chief called the makeup editor to the stone, pointed to the story which had caught his eye, and suggested a fairly simple remake.

Usage notes

  • All countable senses use the regular plural stones except the British unit of mass, which uses the invariant plural stone.

Synonyms

Descendants

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Dictionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

stone (third-person singular simple present stones, present participle stoning, simple past and past participle stoned)

  1. (transitive) To pelt with stones, especially to kill by pelting with stones.
    She got stoned to death after they found her.
  2. (transitive) To wall with stones.
    • 1974, Mathias Peter Harpin, Prophets in the wilderness: a history of Coventry, Rhode Island:
      […] and since it was a rule of the French troops not to be a burden on the people along their route it could be that the advance guard dug and stoned the well for the troop's own special use.
  3. (transitive) To remove a stone from (fruit etc.).
  4. (intransitive) To form a stone during growth, with reference to fruit etc.
  5. (transitive, slang) To intoxicate, especially with narcotics. (Usually in passive)
  6. (intransitive, Singapore, slang) To do nothing, to stare blankly into space and not pay attention when relaxing or when bored.
    • 2003, Roger, Joy, Vera and Amanda Loh, Facts about Singapore: Differences between Ohio and Singapore:
      I was stoning the whole of today.
    • 2011 November 2, Shermaine Ong, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      Resume writing class lesson 2, stoning.
    • 2015 April 8, Becky Osawa, Trekking with Becky: Stoning at the Marina Barrage, Singapore:
      The Marina Barrage is a reservoir, but everyone goes there because the spacious greenery at the top is the perfect place for stoning, which is Singlish for hanging out and chilling.
  7. (transitive) To lap with an abrasive stone to remove surface irregularities.

Synonyms

Translations

Adjective

stone (not comparable)

  1. Constructed of stone.
    stone walls
    Synonym: (archaic) stonen
  2. Having the appearance of stone.
    stone pot
  3. Of a dull light grey or beige, like that of some stones.
  4. (African-American Vernacular) Used as an intensifier.
    She is one stone fox.
    • 1994, Born Bad: Stories:
      Yeah, he's a stone fuck–up. But he's stand–up, too, don't forget that.
    • 2001, Andrew H. Vachss, Pain Management:
      “And I got the best metal man in the business going for me, too.” “This job's going to be a stone motherfucker,” Flacco said
    • 2009, John Lutz, Night Victims, page 307:
      He might be a stone killer who simply doesn't care if his victim's alive or dead at the time of disfigurement.
  5. (LGBT) Willing to give sexual pleasure but not to receive it.
    stone butch; stone femme
    Antonym: pillow princess
    • c. 2000, Sonya, “Femme Identity: Stone-Butch/Femme Dynamic, FTM/Femme Dynamic”, in Transensual Femme‎[2], archived from the original on 2000-05-20:
      My physical preference tends more to very masculine-bodied non-transitioning stone TG butches.

Translations

Adverb

stone (not comparable)

  1. As a stone (used with following adjective).
    My father is stone deaf. This soup is stone cold.
  2. (slang) Absolutely, completely (used with following adjectives).
    I went stone crazy after she left.
    I said the medication made my vision temporarily blurry, it did not make me stone blind.

Translations

Derived terms

 

See also

Anagrams

French stone definition

Pronunciation

Adjective

stone (plural stones)

  1. stoned (high on drugs)

Middle English stone definition

Noun

stone

  1. Alternative form of ston

Yola stone definition

Noun

stone

  1. Alternative form of sthoan
    • 1927, “LAMENT OF A WIDOW”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, line 2:
      To a stone.
      To a stone.

References

  • Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 130
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