Dictionary

freestone en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈfɹiːstəʊn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio
• /ˈfɹiːstoʊn/ (US)

Etymology

From free + stone.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Sedimentary rock: a type of stone that is composed of small particles and easily shaped, most commonly sandstone or limestone.
   • It might, under all the circumstances above stated, have been a question with other builders, whether to import one shipload of costly jaspers, or twenty of chalk flints; and whether to build a small church faced with porphyry and paved with agate, or to raise a vast cathedral in freestone. 1853, John Ruskin, “IV, St. Mark's”, in The Stones of Venice, volume II (The Sea-Stories), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § XXVII, page 77:
   • Mr Allworthy […] died immensely rich and built an hospital […] but had he done nothing more I should have left him to have recorded his own merit on some fair freestone over the door of that hospital. 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:
   • The exterior walls are of freestone, and have a smooth, neat appearance. 1955 June, C. L. Mowat, “The Bristol & Portishead Pier & Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 378:
2. (countable) A stone fruit having a stone (pit) that is relatively free of the flesh.

Forms

Coordinates

clingstone

Translations (6)

de Sedimentgestein (sedimentary rock, most commonly sandstone or limestone) · ru известня́к (sedimentary rock, most commonly sandstone or limestone) · ru песча́ник (sedimentary rock, most commonly sandstone or limestone) · de Kalkstein (limestone) (sedimentary rock, most commonly sandstone or limestone) · de Sandstein (sandstone) (sedimentary rock, most commonly sandstone or limestone) · hu magvaváló (gyümölcs) (stone fruit having a stone (pit) that is relatively free of the flesh)