throwing the first stone - definition of throwing the first stone by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

Stone (st

n), Edward Durell 1902-1978.

American architect who was an exponent of the International Style. Among his notable designs is the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (1964).

Stone, Harlan Fiske 1872-1946.

American jurist who served as an associate justice (1925-1941) and the chief justice (1941-1946) of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Stone, I(sidor) F(einstein) 1907-1989.

American journalist who championed liberal causes in I.F. Stone's Weekly (1953-1971).

stone (st

a. Concreted earthy or mineral matter; rock.

b. Such concreted matter of a particular type. Often used in combination: sandstone; soapstone.

2. A small piece of rock.

3. Rock or a piece of rock shaped or finished for a particular purpose, especially:

a. A piece of rock that is used in construction: a coping stone; a paving stone.

b. A gravestone or tombstone.

c. A grindstone, millstone, or whetstone.

d. A milestone or boundary.

4. A gem or precious stone.

5. Something, such as a hailstone, resembling a stone in shape or hardness.

6. Botany The hard covering enclosing the seed in certain fruits, such as the cherry, plum, or peach.

7. Pathology A mineral concretion in an organ, such as the kidney or gallbladder, or other body part; a calculus.

8. pl. stone Abbr. st. A unit of weight in Great Britain, 14 pounds (6.4 kilograms).

9. Printing A table with a smooth surface on which page forms are composed.

adj.

1. Relating to or made of stone: a stone wall.

2. Made of stoneware or earthenware.

3. Complete; utter: a stone liar.

adv.

Completely; utterly: stone cold; standing stone still.

tr.v. stoned, ston·ing, stones

1. To hurl or throw stones at, especially to kill with stones.

2. To remove the stones or pits from.

3. To furnish, fit, pave, or line with stones.

4. To rub on or with a stone in order to polish or sharpen.

5. Obsolete To make hard or indifferent.

[Middle English, from Old English stn; see sti- in Indo-European roots.]

stone

Noun

1. the hard nonmetallic material of which rocks are made

2. a small lump of rock

3. Also called: (gemstone) a precious or semiprecious stone that has been cut and polished

4. a piece of rock used for some particular purpose: gravestone, millstone

5. the hard central part of fruits such as the peach or date

6. pl stone Brit a unit of weight equal to 14 pounds or 6.350 kilograms

7. Pathol a hard deposit formed in the kidney or bladder

8. heart of stone a hard or unemotional personality

9. leave no stone unturned to do everything possible to achieve something

Adjective

made of stoneware: the polished stone planter

Verb

[stoning, stoned]

1. to throw stones at (someone), for example as a punishment

2. to remove the stones from (a fruit) [Old English stān]

stone (st

1. Rock, especially when used in construction.

2. The hard, woody inner layer (the endocarp) of a drupe such as a cherry or peach. Not in scientific use.

3. See calculus.

Stone of drunks—Lipton, 1970.

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun	1.	stone - a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter; "he threw a rock at me" rock natural object - an object occurring naturally; not made by man achondrite - a stony meteor lacking chondrules bedrock - solid unweathered rock lying beneath surface deposits of soil boulder, bowlder - a large smooth mass of rock detached from its place of origin calculus, concretion - a hard lump produced by the concretion of mineral salts; found in hollow organs or ducts of the body; "renal calculi can be very painful" chondrite - a rock of meteoric origin containing chondrules clastic rock - (geology) a rock composed of broken pieces of older rocks crystallization, crystal - a rock formed by the solidification of a substance; has regularly repeating internal structure; external plane faces intrusion - rock produced by an intrusive process outcrop, outcropping, rock outcrop - the part of a rock formation that appears above the surface of the surrounding land pebble - a small smooth rounded rock petrifaction - a rock created by petrifaction; an organic object infiltrated with mineral matter and preserved in its original form sill - (geology) a flat (usually horizontal) mass of igneous rock between two layers of older sedimentary rock stepping stone - a stone in a marsh or shallow water that can be stepped on in crossing tor - a prominent rock or pile of rocks on a hill wall rock - a rock immediately adjacent to a vein or fault whinstone, whin - any of various hard colored rocks (especially rocks consisting of chert or basalt) xenolith - (geology) a piece of rock of different origin from the igneous rock in which it is embedded
	2.	stone - 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" ashlar - a rectangular block of hewn stone used for building purposes coping stone, capstone, copestone, stretcher - a stone that forms the top of wall or building cornerstone - a stone at the outer corner of two intersecting masonry walls cornerstone - a stone in the exterior of a large and important building; usually carved with a date and laid with appropriate ceremonies foundation stone - a stone laid at a ceremony to mark the founding of a new building gravestone, tombstone, headstone - a stone that is used to mark a grave grindstone - a revolving stone shaped like a disk; used to grind or sharpen or polish edge tools hearthstone - a stone that forms a hearth millstone - one of a pair of heavy flat disk-shaped stones that are rotated against one another to grind the grain monolith - a single great stone (often in the form of a column or obelisk) paving stone - a stone used for paving springer, impost - the lowest stone in an arch -- from which it springs stela, stele - an ancient upright stone slab bearing markings whetstone - a flat stone for sharpening edged tools or knives building material - material used for constructing buildings
	3.	stone - 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" rock material, stuff - the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object; "coal is a hard black material"; "wheat is the stuff they use to make bread" mineral - solid homogeneous inorganic substances occurring in nature having a definite chemical composition quartzite - hard metamorphic rock consisting essentially of interlocking quartz crystals road metal - broken rock used for repairing or making roads sedimentary rock - rock formed from consolidated clay sediments sial - the granitelike rocks that form the outermost layer of the earth's crust; rich in silicon and aluminum sima - rock that form the continuous lower layer of the earth's crust; rich in silicon and magnesium metamorphic rock - rock altered by pressure and heat crushed rock, gravel - rock fragments and pebbles caliche - nitrate-bearing rock or gravel of the sodium nitrate deposits of Chile and Peru shingling - (geology) sediment in which flat pebbles are uniformly tilted in the same direction pumice, pumice stone - a light glass formed on the surface of some lavas; used as an abrasive aphanite - fine-grained homogeneous rock (such as basalt) containing minerals undetectable by the naked eye claystone - fine-grained rock consisting of compacted clay particles dolomite - a kind of sedimentary rock resembling marble or limestone but rich in magnesium carbonate emery rock, emery stone - a mixture of emery dust and a binder; can be molded into grindstones conglomerate, pudding stone - a composite rock made up of particles of varying size fieldstone - stone that occurs naturally in fields; often used as building material greisen - a granitic rock composed of quartz and mica calc-tufa, tufa - a soft porous rock consisting of calcium carbonate deposited from springs rich in lime magma - molten rock in the earth's crust igneous rock - rock formed by the solidification of molten magma limestone - a sedimentary rock consisting mainly of calcium that was deposited by the remains of marine animals marble - a hard crystalline metamorphic rock that takes a high polish; used for sculpture and as building material matrix - (geology) amass of fine-grained rock in which fossils, crystals, or gems are embedded
	4.	stone - 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" gemstone, gem jewellery, jewelry - an adornment (as a bracelet or ring or necklace) made of precious metals and set with gems (or imitation gems) cabochon - a highly polished gem that is cut convexly but without facets crystal - a solid formed by the solidification of a chemical and having a highly regular atomic structure opaque gem - a gemstone that is opaque transparent gem - a gemstone having the property of transmitting light without serious diffusion
	5.	stone - 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" Britain, Great Britain, U.K., UK, United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; `Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom avoirdupois unit - any of the units of the avoirdupois system of weights lb, pound - 16 ounces avoirdupois; "he got a hernia when he tried to lift 100 pounds" quarter - a quarter of a hundredweight (25 pounds)
	6.	stone - 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" endocarp, pit pericarp, seed vessel - the ripened and variously modified walls of a plant ovary peach pit - the stone seed of a peach cherry stone - the stone seed of a cherry
	7.	Stone - United States jurist who was named chief justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1941 by Franklin D. Roosevelt (1872-1946) Harlan F. Stone, Harlan Fisk Stone, Harlan Stone
	8.	Stone - United States filmmaker (born in 1946) Oliver Stone
	9.	Stone - United States feminist and suffragist (1818-1893) Lucy Stone
	10.	Stone - United States journalist who advocated liberal causes (1907-1989) I. F. Stone, Isidor Feinstein Stone
	11.	Stone - United States jurist who served on the United States Supreme Court as chief justice (1872-1946) Harlan Fiske Stone
	12.	Stone - United States architect (1902-1978) Edward Durell Stone
	13.	stone - a lack of feeling or expression or movement; "he must have a heart of stone"; "her face was as hard as stone" chilliness, coldness, iciness, frigidity, frigidness, coolness - a lack of affection or enthusiasm; "a distressing coldness of tone and manner"
Verb	1.	stone - kill by throwing stones at; "People wanted to stone the woman who had a child out of wedlock" lapidate kill - cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly; "This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bank"; "The farmer killed a pig for the holidays"
	2.	stone - remove the pits from; "pit plums and cherries" pit remove, take away, withdraw, take - remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract; "remove a threat"; "remove a wrapper"; "Remove the dirty dishes from the table"; "take the gun from your pocket"; "This machine withdraws heat from the environment"
Adj.	1.	stone - of any of various dull tannish or grey colors chromatic - being or having or characterized by hue