stone
Meanings
- A hard earthen substance that can form rocks; especially, such substance when regarded as a building material.
- A piece of such material: a block of stone, rock or a pebble.
- A gemstone, a jewel, especially a diamond.
- A unit of weight equal to 14 pounds (≈6.3503 kilograms), formerly used for various commodities (wool, cheese, etc.), but now principally used for personal weight. Abbreviated as st.
- The central part of some fruits, particularly drupes; consisting of the seed and a hard endocarp layer.
- A hard, stone-like deposit.
- A playing piece made of any hard material, used in various board games such as backgammon and go.
- A dull light grey or beige, like that of some stones.
- A 42-pound, precisely shaped piece of granite with a handle attached, which is bowled down the ice.
- A monument to the dead; a gravestone or tombstone.
- A mirror, or its glass.
- A testicle.
- Constructed of stone.
- Having the appearance of stone.
- Of a dull light grey or beige, like that of some stones.
- Used as an intensifier.
- Willing to give sexual pleasure but not to receive it.
- As a stone (used with following adjective).
- Absolutely, completely (used with following adjectives).
- To pelt with stones; especially, to kill by pelting with stones.
- To wall or wall up with stones.
- To remove a stone from (fruit etc.).
- To form a stone during growth, with reference to fruit etc.
- Especially of cannabis or narcotics: To intoxicate. (Usually in passive)
- To do nothing, to stare blankly into space and not pay attention when relaxing or when bored.
- To lap with an abrasive stone to remove surface irregularities.
- An English occupational and habitational surname from Old English, for someone who lived near a stone worked with stone, from Old English stan.
- A male given name.
- A placename:
- A locale in England:
- A village in Stone with Bishopstone and Hartwell parish, Buckinghamshire, previously in Aylesbury Vale district (OS grid ref SP7811).
- A village in Ham and Stone parish, Stroud district, Gloucestershire (OS grid ref ST6895).
- A village and civil parish in Dartford borough, Kent (OS grid ref TQ5774).
- A hamlet in Maltby parish, Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire (OS grid ref SK5589).
- A market town and civil parish with a town council in Stafford borough, Staffordshire (OS grid ref SJ9034).
- A village and civil parish in Wyre Forest district, Worcestershire (OS grid ref SO8575).
- A locale in the United States.
- An unincorporated community in California.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- Proto-Indo-European *stoyh₂nos Proto-Germanic *stainaz Proto-West Germanic *stain Old English stān Middle English ston English stone From Middle English ston, stone, stan, from Old English stān, from Proto-West Germanic *stain, from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (“stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”). Cognates Cognate with Scots stane (“stone”), Yola sthoan (“stone”), North Frisian stean, stian, stiin, stiinj (“stone”), Saterland Frisian Steen (“stone”), West Frisian stien (“stone”), Alemannic German Steei (“rock, stone”), Bavarian Staa (“rock, stone”), Central Franconian Steen, Stään (“stone”), Dutch steen (“stone”), German Stein (“rock, stone”), German Low German Steen, Stein (“stone”), Luxembourgish Steen (“stone”), Vilamovian śtan (“stone”), Yiddish שטיין (shteyn, “stone”), Danish and Swedish sten (“stone”), Elfdalian stien (“stone”), Faroese steinur (“stone”), Gutnish stain (“rock, stone”), Icelandic steinn (“rock, stone”), Norwegian Bokmål stein, sten (“stone”), Norwegian Nynorsk steidn, stein (“stone”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (stains, “stone”). Compare also Ancient Greek στία (stía, “pebble”), στέαρ (stéar, “tallow”), Lithuanian sténgti (“to be able, make an effort; to oppose”), Russian стена́ (stená, “wall”), Albanian shtëng (“hardened or pressed matter”), Sanskrit स्तिया (stiyā, “still or stagnant water”). Doublet of stain, stean, and stein.