n. [ OE. ston, stan, AS. stān; akin to OS. & OFries. stēn, D. steen, G. stein, Icel. steinn, Sw. sten, Dan. steen, Goth. stains, Russ. stiena a wall, Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;, a pebble. √167. Cf. Steen. ] 1. Concreted earthy or mineral matter; also, any particular mass of such matter; as, a house built of stone; the boy threw a stone; pebbles are rounded stones. “Dumb as a stone.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

They had brick for stone, and slime . . . for mortar. Gen. xi. 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In popular language, very large masses of stone are called rocks; small masses are called stones; and the finer kinds, gravel, or sand, or grains of sand. Stone is much and widely used in the construction of buildings of all kinds, for walls, fences, piers, abutments, arches, monuments, sculpture, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A precious stone; a gem. “Many a rich stone.” Chaucer. “Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Something made of stone. Specifically: - [ 1913 Webster ]

(a) The glass of a mirror; a mirror. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Lend me a looking-glass;
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why, then she lives. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) A monument to the dead; a gravestone. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

Should some relenting eye
Glance on the where our cold relics lie. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Med.) A calculous concretion, especially one in the kidneys or bladder; the disease arising from a calculus. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. One of the testes; a testicle. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Bot.) The hard endocarp of drupes; as, the stone of a cherry or peach. See Illust. of Endocarp. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A weight which legally is fourteen pounds, but in practice varies with the article weighed. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The stone of butchers' meat or fish is reckoned at 8 lbs.; of cheese, 16 lbs.; of hemp, 32 lbs.; of glass, 5 lbs. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Fig.: Symbol of hardness and insensibility; torpidness; insensibility; as, a heart of stone. [ 1913 Webster ]

I have not yet forgot myself to stone. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Print.) 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; -- called also imposing stone. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Stone is used adjectively or in composition with other words to denote made of stone, containing a stone or stones, employed on stone, or, more generally, of or pertaining to stone or stones; as, stone fruit, or stone-fruit; stone-hammer, or stone hammer; stone falcon, or stone-falcon. Compounded with some adjectives it denotes a degree of the quality expressed by the adjective equal to that possessed by a stone; as, stone-dead, stone-blind, stone-cold, stone-still, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Atlantic stone, ivory. [ Obs. ] “Citron tables, or Atlantic stone.” Milton. --
Bowing stone. Same as Cromlech. Encyc. Brit. --
Meteoric stones, stones which fall from the atmosphere, as after the explosion of a meteor. --
Philosopher's stone. See under Philosopher. --
Rocking stone. See Rocking-stone. --
Stone age, a supposed prehistoric age of the world when stone and bone were habitually used as the materials for weapons and tools; -- called also flint age. The bronze age succeeded to this. --
Stone bass (Zool.), any one of several species of marine food fishes of the genus Serranus and allied genera, as Serranus Couchii, and Polyprion cernium of Europe; -- called also sea perch. --
Stone biter (Zool.), the wolf fish. --
Stone boiling, a method of boiling water or milk by dropping hot stones into it, -- in use among savages. Tylor. --
Stone borer (Zool.), any animal that bores stones; especially, one of certain bivalve mollusks which burrow in limestone. See Lithodomus, and Saxicava. --
Stone bramble (Bot.), a European trailing species of bramble (Rubus saxatilis). --
Stone-break. [ Cf. G. steinbrech. ] (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Saxifraga; saxifrage. --
Stone bruise, a sore spot on the bottom of the foot, from a bruise by a stone. --
Stone canal. (Zool.) Same as Sand canal, under Sand. --
Stone cat (Zool.), any one of several species of small fresh-water North American catfishes of the genus Noturus. They have sharp pectoral spines with which they inflict painful wounds. --
Stone coal, hard coal; mineral coal; anthracite coal. --
Stone coral (Zool.), any hard calcareous coral. --
Stone crab. (Zool.) (a) A large crab (Menippe mercenaria) found on the southern coast of the United States and much used as food. (b) A European spider crab (Lithodes maia).
Stone crawfish (Zool.), a European crawfish (Astacus torrentium), by many writers considered only a variety of the common species (Astacus fluviatilis). --
Stone curlew. (Zool.) (a) A large plover found in Europe (Edicnemus crepitans). It frequents stony places. Called also thick-kneed plover or bustard, and thick-knee. (b) The whimbrel. [ Prov. Eng. ] (c) The willet. [ Local, U.S. ] --
Stone crush. Same as Stone bruise, above. --
Stone eater. (Zool.) Same as Stone borer, above. --
Stone falcon (Zool.), the merlin. --
Stone fern (Bot.), a European fern (Asplenium Ceterach) which grows on rocks and walls. --
Stone fly (Zool.), any one of many species of pseudoneuropterous insects of the genus Perla and allied genera; a perlid. They are often used by anglers for bait. The larvae are aquatic. --
Stone fruit (Bot.), any fruit with a stony endocarp; a drupe, as a peach, plum, or cherry. --
Stone grig (Zool.), the mud lamprey, or pride. --
Stone hammer, a hammer formed with a face at one end, and a thick, blunt edge, parallel with the handle, at the other, -- used for breaking stone. --
Stone hawk (Zool.), the merlin; -- so called from its habit of sitting on bare stones. --
Stone jar, a jar made of stoneware. --
Stone lily (Paleon.), a fossil crinoid. --
Stone lugger. (Zool.) See Stone roller, below. --
Stone marten (Zool.), a European marten (Mustela foina) allied to the pine marten, but having a white throat; -- called also beech marten. --
Stone mason, a mason who works or builds in stone. --
Stone-mortar (Mil.), a kind of large mortar formerly used in sieges for throwing a mass of small stones short distances. --
Stone oil, rock oil, petroleum. --
Stone parsley (Bot.), an umbelliferous plant (Seseli Labanotis). See under Parsley. --
Stone pine. (Bot.) A nut pine. See the Note under Pine, and Piñon. --
Stone pit, a quarry where stones are dug. --
Stone pitch, hard, inspissated pitch. --
Stone plover. (Zool.) (a) The European stone curlew. (b) Any one of several species of Asiatic plovers of the genus Esacus; as, the large stone plover (Esacus recurvirostris). (c) The gray or black-bellied plover. [ Prov. Eng. ] (d) The ringed plover. (e) The bar-tailed godwit. [ Prov. Eng. ] Also applied to other species of limicoline birds. --
Stone roller. (Zool.) (a) An American fresh-water fish (Catostomus nigricans) of the Sucker family. Its color is yellowish olive, often with dark blotches. Called also stone lugger, stone toter, hog sucker, hog mullet. (b) A common American cyprinoid fish (Campostoma anomalum); -- called also stone lugger. --
Stone's cast, or
Stone's throw, the distance to which a stone may be thrown by the hand; as, they live a stone's throw from each other. --
Stone snipe (Zool.), the greater yellowlegs, or tattler. [ Local, U.S. ] --
Stone toter. (Zool.) (a) See Stone roller (a), above. (b) A cyprinoid fish (Exoglossum maxillingua) found in the rivers from Virginia to New York. It has a three-lobed lower lip; -- called also cutlips. --
To leave no stone unturned, to do everything that can be done; to use all practicable means to effect an object. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Stoned p. pr. & vb. n. Stoning. ] [ From Stone, n.: cf. AS. st&unr_;nan, Goth. stainjan. ] 1. To pelt, beat, or kill with stones. [ 1913 Webster ]

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Acts vii. 59. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make like stone; to harden. [ 1913 Webster ]

O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To free from stones; also, to remove the seeds of; as, to stone a field; to stone cherries; to stone raisins. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To wall or face with stones; to line or fortify with stones; as, to stone a well; to stone a cellar. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To rub, scour, or sharpen with a stone. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

n. The yellowlegs; -- called also stone snipe. See Tattler, 2. [ Local, U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. As blind as a stone; completely blind. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A kind of crossbow formerly used for shooting stones. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A subsoil made up of small stones or finely-broken rock; brash. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A machine for crushing or hammering stone. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) See Steinbock. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Stone + chat. ] [ So called from the similarity of its alarm note to the clicking together of two pebbles. ] (Zool.) (a) A small, active, and very common European singing bird (Pratincola rubicola); -- called also chickstone, stonechacker, stonechatter, stoneclink, stonesmith. (b) The wheatear. (c) The blue titmouse. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The name is sometimes applied to various species of Saxicola, Pratincola, and allied genera; as, the pied stonechat of India (Saxicola picata). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Cold as a stone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Stone-cold without, within burnt with love's flame. Fairfax. [ 1913 Webster ]