1. [n]  building material consisting of a piece of rock hewn in a definite shape for a special purpose; "he wanted a special stone to mark the site"
2. [n]  a lack of feeling or expression or movement; "he must have a heart of stone"; "her face was as hard as stone"
3. [n]  a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter; "he threw a rock at me"
4. [n]  United States architect (1902-1978)
5. [n]  United States jurist who served on the United States Supreme Court as Chief Justice (1872-1946)
6. [n]  United States journalist who advocated liberal causes (1907-1989)
7. [n]  United States feminist and suffragist (1818-1893)
8. [n]  United States filmmaker (born in 1946)
9. [n]  the hard inner (usually woody) layer of the pericarp of some fruits (as peaches or plums or cherries or olives) that contains the seed; "you should remove the stones from prunes before cooking"
10. [n]  (British) an avoirdupois unit used to measure the weight of a human body; equal to 14 pounds; "a heavy chap who must have weighed more than twenty stone"
11. [n]  material consisting of the aggregate of minerals like those making up the Earth's crust; "that mountain is solid rock"; "stone is abundant in New England and there are many quarries"
12. [n]  a crystalline rock that can be cut and polished for jewelry; "he had the gem set in a ring for his wife"; "she had jewels made of all the rarest stones"
13. [adj]  of any of various dull tannish-gray colors
14. [adj]  of or relating to or made of stone; "a stone house"
15. [v]  remove the pits from, as of certain fruit such as peaches
16. [v]  kill by throwing stones at; "Adulterers should be stoned according to the Koran"

1. \Stone\, n. [OE. ston, stan, AS. st[=a]n; akin to OS. &
   OFries. st[=e]n, D. steen, G. stein, Icel. steinn, Sw. sten,
   Dan. steen, Goth. stains, Russ. stiena a wall, Gr. ?, ?, a
   pebble. [root]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.
            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.
   

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

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Stones were commonly used for buildings, also as memorials of important events (Gen. 28:18; Josh. 24:26, 27; 1 Sam. 7:12, etc.). They were gathered out of cultivated fields (Isa. 5:2; comp. 2 Kings 3:19). This word is also used figuratively of believers (1 Pet. 2:4, 5), and of the Messiah (Ps. 118:22; Isa. 28:16; Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:11, etc.). In Dan. 2:45 it refers also to the Messiah. He is there described as "cut out of the mountain." (See ROCK.)

A "heart of stone" denotes great insensibility (1 Sam. 25:37).

Stones were set up to commemorate remarkable events, as by Jacob at Bethel (Gen. 28:18), at Padan-aram (35:4), and on the occasion of parting with Laban (31:45-47); by Joshua at the place on the banks of the Jordan where the people first "lodged" after crossing the river (Josh. 6:8), and also in "the midst of Jordan," where he erected another set of twelve stones (4:1-9); and by Samuel at "Ebenezer" (1 Sam. 7:12).