stone

stone

1. the hard compact nonmetallic material of which rocks are made

2. a small lump of rock; pebble

3. the woody central part of such fruits as the peach and plum, that contains the seed; endocarp

4. any similar hard part of a fruit, such as the stony seed of a date

5. Brit a unit of weight, used esp to express human body weight, equal to 14 pounds or 6.350 kilograms

6. the rounded heavy mass of granite or iron used in the game of curling

7. Pathol a nontechnical name for calculus

8. Rare (in certain games) a piece or man

9. any of various dull grey colours

10. made of stoneware

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Stone

1. Oliver. born 1946, US film director and screenwriter: his films include Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), JFK (1991), Nixon (1995), and Alexander (2004)

2. Sharon. born 1958, US film actress: her films include Basic Instinct (1991), Casino (1995), and Cold Creek Manor (2003)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

stone

Short for stony meteorite.

Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006

Stone

Native rock that has been processed by shaping, cutting, or sizing for building or landscaping use. It is fire resistant and varies according to type, from fairly porous to impregnable. There are three basic types of stone: igneous, such as granite, is long-lasting and durable; sedimentary, such as limestone, is made up of organic remains; and metamorphic rock, such as marble, is either igneous or sedimentary rock that has been transformed by pressure and heat or both.

alabaster

A fine-grained, translucent variety of very pure gypsum, white or delicately shaded, and used for ornamental work.

basalt

A dense, dark gray volcanic rock, often full of small cavities, used as a building stone.

Belgian block

A hard paving stone, typically granite, roughly cut to the shape of a truncated pyramid, where the top is slightly smaller than the base.

bluestone

A dense fine-grained sandstone that splits easily along bedding planes to form thin slabs.

brownstone

A dark brown or reddish-brown sandstone, used extensively for building in the United States during the middle and late 19th century.

cobble

Stone that is smaller than a boulder but larger than gravel.

cobblestone

A naturally rounded stone used in paving, wall construction, and foundations.

dolomite

Limestone consisting principally of the mineral dolomite.

fieldstone

Loose stone found on the surface or in the soil, flat in the direction of bedding and suitable for use as drywall masonry.

flagstone

A naturally thin flat stone, normally used as a stepping stone or as outdoor paving; sometimes split from rock that cleaves easily.

gneiss

A coarse-grained, dark metamorphic rock; composed mainly of quartz, feldspar, mica, and other minerals corresponding in composition to granite, in which the minerals are arranged in layers.

granite

An igneous rock having crystals or grains of visible size; consists mainly of quartz and mica or other colored minerals.

limestone

Rock of sedimentary origin composed principally of calcite, dolomite, or both; used as a building stone or crushed-stone aggregate, or burnt to produce lime.

marble

Metamorphic rock made up largely of calcite or dolomite; capable of taking a high polish, and used especially in architecture and sculpture; numerous minerals account for its distinctive appearance.

natural stone

A stone that has been quarried and cut, but not crushed into chips or reconstituted into cast stone.

obsidian

A natural volcanic glass, usually black with a bright luster, that is transparent in thin slabs.

quartzite

A variety of sandstone composed largely of granular quartz cemented by silica, forming a homogeneous mass of very high tensile and crushing strengths; used as a building stone and as an aggregate in concrete.

sandstone

Sedimentary rock that is composed of sand-sized grains naturally cemented by mineral materials.

serpentine

A group of minerals consisting of hydrous magnesium silicate or rock largely composed of these minerals; commonly occurs in greenish shades; used as decorative stone.

slate

A hard, brittle metamorphic rock characterized by good cleavage along parallel planes; used as cut stone in thin sheets for flooring, roofing, and panels, and in granular form as surfacing on composition roofing.

squared stone

Roughly dressed stone blocks with rectangular faces.

travertine

A variety of limestone deposited by springs, usually banded, commonly coarse and cellular, often containing fossils; used as building stones, especially for interior facing or flooring.

undressed stone

Not trimmed or rendered smooth.

verde antique

A dark green serpentine rock marked with white veins of calcite that takes a high polish; used for decorative purposes since ancient times; sometimes classified as a marble.

volcanic stone

A low-density, high-porosity rock composed of volcanic particles, ranging from ash size to small pebble size, which are compacted or cemented together; used as a building stone or as a thermal insulation material.

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

stone

[stōn]

(geology)

A small fragment of rock or mineral.

stony meteorite

(lapidary)

A cut and polished natural gemstone.

(mechanics)

A unit of mass in common use in the United Kingdom, equal to 14 pounds or 6.35029318 kilograms.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

stone

Any type of rock that has been selected or processed by cutting, shaping, or sizing for use in building construction or for decorative purposes; see brownstone, cobblestone, dimension stone, fieldstone, flagstone, freestone, granite, limestone, marble, pudding stone, rib vault, rusticated stone, sandstone, soapstone.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

STONE

A Structured and Open Environment: a project supported by the German Ministry of Research and Technology (BMFT) to design, implement and distribute a SEE for research and teaching.

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