Dictionary

tombstone en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈtuːmstoʊn/ (General-American)
• (US) audio
• /ˈtuːmstəʊn/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From tomb + stone.

Meanings

1. A grave marker, a stone slab or similar object marking a person's grave.
   • True, there's no harm in crying for one's husband, and the tombstone, though plain, was a solid piece of work, and on summer's days when the widow brought her boys to stand there one felt kindly towards her. 1922, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Jacob's Room:
2. The symbol "∎" marking the end of a proof.
3. (qualifier:Microsoft Windows) A marker that takes the place of deleted data, allowing for replication of the deletion across servers etc.
   • If you attempt to restore a backup that is older than the tombstone lifetime, it may introduce objects that were deleted […] 2008, Laura E. Hunter, Robbie Allen, Active Directory Cookbook, page 739:
4. A crashdump.
   • This actually results in a crash dump, which is written to the log and to a tombstone file. 2014, Joshua J. Drake, Zach Lanier, Collin Mulliner, Android Hacker's Handbook, page 186:
5. An unusual morphological feature on an electrocardiogram indicative of acute myocardial infarction, characterized by a massive ST elevation.
6. A printed advertisement in a newspaper or magazine, typically having unadorned centered text in black and white, enclosed in a simple box.
7. A museum plaque or caption displaying information about a work of art or exhibited object.
   • The last bit of information on each tombstone is an accession number—an alphanumeric block that is assigned when an object is added (accessioned) to the museums’ collections. 2015, Harvard Art Museum, Writing on the Wall:
8. (archaic, slang) A pawnbroker's ticket.
   • "[…] Pity we're not both same size, or I'd steal one of your shirts, for I buried the last of mine yesterday, and here's the tombstone," producing a pawnbroker's duplicate. 1862, W. H. Watts, My Private Note-Book; or, Recollections of an old reporter, page 123:

Forms

Deriveds

tombstoning · tombstoner · tombstone engineering

Relateds

through-stone

Synonyms

gravestone · headstone · grave marker · halmos

Translations (87)

bg надгро́бен па́метник (stone on grave) · nrf tombé (stone on grave) · ko 묘석 (stone on grave) · sk náhrobok (stone on grave) · it pietra tombale (stone on grave) · cs náhrobní kámen (stone on grave) · uk надгро́бок (stone on grave) · ru надгро́бие (stone on grave) · el ταφόπλακα (stone on grave) · az başdaşı (stone on grave) · io tombo (stone on grave) · cmn 墓石 (stone on grave) · ru моги́льный ка́мень (stone on grave) · pt campa (stone on grave) · kw men bedh (stone on grave) · eu hilarri (stone on grave) · pdt Graufsteen (stone on grave) · ru моги́льная плита́ (stone on grave) · cs náhrobek (stone on grave) · sk náhrobný kameň (stone on grave) · pt lápide (stone on grave) · cy carreg fedd (stone on grave) · pl nagrobek (stone on grave) · hy գերեզմանաքար (stone on grave) · hu sírkő (stone on grave) · af grafsteen (stone on grave) · lv kapakmens (stone on grave) · nci miccātetl (stone on grave) · vi mộ chí (stone on grave) · cmn 墓碑 (stone on grave) · ca làpida (stone on grave) · be надмагі́льны ка́мень (stone on grave) · mk на́дгробник (stone on grave) · sl nagrobnik (stone on grave) · th ป้ายสุสาน (stone on grave) · cu рака (stone on grave) · ba ҡәбер ташы (stone on grave) · nl gedenkteken (stone on grave) · de Leichenstein (stone on grave) · da gravsten (stone on grave) · ro lapidă (stone on grave) · yi מצבֿה (stone on grave) · uk моги́льна плита́ (stone on grave) · tr mezar taşı (stone on grave) · enm graveston (stone on grave) · ro piatră de mormânt (stone on grave) · he מַצֵּבָה (stone on grave) · ru надгро́бная плита́ (stone on grave) · de Grabmal (stone on grave) · uk надгро́бний ка́мінь (stone on grave) · ga leac uaighe (stone on grave) · nl zerk (stone on grave) · eo tomboŝtono (stone on grave) · nl grafsteen (stone on grave) · es lápida (stone on grave) · gd leac (stone on grave) · sq mëkresë (stone on grave) · os цырт (stone on grave) · vi bia mộ (stone on grave) · ka საფლავის ქვა (stone on grave) · ja 墓石 (stone on grave) · bg надгро́бна пло́ча (stone on grave) · de Grabstein (stone on grave) · mk на́дгробен спо́меник (stone on grave) · gd clach-chinn (stone on grave) · ja 墓碑 (stone on grave) · hy տապանաքար (stone on grave) · mk на́дгробна пло́ча (stone on grave) · bn সমাধিপ্রস্তর (stone on grave) · sv gravsten (stone on grave) · mnb maeasa (stone on grave) · el ταφόπετρα (stone on grave) · mn булшны чулуу (stone on grave) · fr pierre tombale (stone on grave) · la lapis (stone on grave) · it lapide (stone on grave) · ro piatră funerară (stone on grave) · id batu nisan (stone on grave) · tl lapida (stone on grave) · nn gravstein (stone on grave) · ga leac thuama (stone on grave) · nb gravstein (stone on grave) · be надмагі́лле (stone on grave) · sq gur varri (stone on grave) · la lapillus (stone on grave) · lt antkapis (stone on grave) · fi hautakivi (stone on grave)

tombstone en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈtuːmstoʊn/ (General-American)
• (US) audio
• /ˈtuːmstəʊn/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From tomb + stone.

Meanings

1. (UK, intransitive) To take part in tombstoning: to jump into the sea, etc. from a cliff or other high point so as to enter the water vertically straight.
2. For a surfboard to stand upright half-submerged in the water (like a tombstone, above) because the surfer is underwater with his or her legrope pulled tight. Often this indicates a surfer in difficulty, either held down by the power of a wave or unconscious and unable to get to the surface.
   • Before the contest even started, Slater went down hard in a warmup session. He took a two-wave hold-down in the semifinals, his board tombstoning eerily for all to see, […] 2005, Bruce Jenkins, Surfer magazine, (referring to Kelly Slater) http://surfermag.com/features/events/mav05/
3. (qualifier:Microsoft Windows, transitive) To replace (an object or data) with a tombstone marker.
   • One of the many improvements in Windows 2000 WINS (and NT4 SP4) is the capability to selectively delete or tombstone records. 2000, William Boswell, Inside Windows 2000 Server, page 211:

Forms