They had brick for stone, and slime . . . for
mortar. --Gen. xi. 3.
Note: 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.
2. A precious stone; a gem. ``Many a rich stone.'' --Chaucer.
``Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels.'' --Shak.
3. Something made of stone. Specifically:
(a) The glass of a mirror; a mirror. [Obs.]
Lend me a looking-glass; If that her breath will
mist or stain the stone, Why, then she lives.
--Shak.
(b) A monument to the dead; a gravestone. --Gray.
Should some relenting eye Glance on the where
our cold relics lie. --Pope.
4. (Med.) A calculous concretion, especially one in the
kidneys or bladder; the disease arising from a calculus.
5. One of the testes; a testicle. --Shak.
6. (Bot.) The hard endocarp of drupes; as, the stone of a
cherry or peach. See Illust. of {Endocarp}.
7. A weight which legally is fourteen pounds, but in practice
varies with the article weighed. [Eng.]
Note: The stone of butchers' meat or fish is reckoned at 8
lbs.; of cheese, 16 lbs.; of hemp, 32 lbs.; of glass, 5
lbs.
8. Fig.: Symbol of hardness and insensibility; torpidness;
insensibility; as, a heart of stone.
I have not yet forgot myself to stone. --Pope.
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}.
Note: 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.
{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} (Zo["o]l.), 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} (Zo["o]l.), 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} (Zo["o]l.), 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}. (Zo["o]l.) Same as {Sand canal}, under {Sand}.
{Stone cat} (Zo["o]l.), 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} (Zo["o]l.), any hard calcareous coral.
{Stone crab}. (Zo["o]l.)
(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} (Zo["o]l.), a European crawfish ({Astacus
torrentium}), by many writers considered only a variety of
the common species ({A. fluviatilis}).
{Stone curlew}. (Zo["o]l.)
(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}. (Zo["o]l.) Same as {Stone borer}, above.
{Stone falcon} (Zo["o]l.), the merlin.
{Stone fern} (Bot.), a European fern ({Asplenium Ceterach})
which grows on rocks and walls.
{Stone fly} (Zo["o]l.), 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 larv[ae] are aquatic.
{Stone fruit} (Bot.), any fruit with a stony endocarp; a
drupe, as a peach, plum, or cherry.
{Stone grig} (Zo["o]l.), 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} (Zo["o]l.), 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}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Stone roller}, below.
{Stone marten} (Zo["o]l.), 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 {Pi[~n]on}.
{Stone pit}, a quarry where stones are dug.
{Stone pitch}, hard, inspissated pitch.
{Stone plover}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) The European stone curlew.
(b) Any one of several species of Asiatic plovers of the
genus {Esacus}; as, the large stone plover ({E.
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}. (Zo["o]l.)
(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.
{Stone snipe} (Zo["o]l.), the greater yellowlegs, or tattler.
[Local, U.S.]
{Stone toter}. (Zo["o]l.)
(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.
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and
saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. --Acts vii.
59.
2. To make like stone; to harden.
O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart. --Shak.
3. To free from stones; also, to remove the seeds of; as, to
stone a field; to stone cherries; to stone raisins.
4. To wall or face with stones; to line or fortify with
stones; as, to stone a well; to stone a cellar.
5. To rub, scour, or sharpen with a stone.
2. Any one of numerous species of spiny-finned fishes
belonging to the {Percid[ae]}, {Serranid[ae]}, and related
families, and resembling, more or less, the true perches.
{Black perch}.
(a) The black bass.
(b) The flasher.
(c) The sea bass.
{Gray perch}, the fresh-water drum.
{Red-bellied perch}, the long-eared pondfish.
{Perch pest}, a small crustacean, parasitic in the mouth of
the perch.
{Silver perch}, the yellowtail.
{Stone}, or {Striped}, {perch}, the pope.
{White perch}, the {Roccus, or Morone, Americanus}, a small
silvery serranoid market fish of the Atlantic coast.