(~s, stoning, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
Note: The plural is usually '~' in meaning 10.
1.
Stone is a hard solid substance found in the ground and often used for building houses.
He could not tell whether the floor was wood or ~...
People often don’t appreciate that marble is a natural ~.
...~ walls.
N-MASS
2.
A ~ is a small piece of rock that is found on the ground.
He removed a ~ from his shoe...
The crowd began throwing ~s.
N-COUNT
3.
A ~ is a large piece of ~ put somewhere in memory of a person or event, or as a religious symbol.
The monument consists of a circle of gigantic ~s.
N-COUNT
4.
Stone is used in expressions such as set in ~ and tablets of ~ to suggest that an idea or rule is firm and fixed, and cannot be changed.
Scientific opinions are not carved on tablets of ~; they change over the years.
N-UNCOUNT: oft with brd-neg
5.
You can refer to a jewel as a ~.
...a diamond ring with three ~s.
N-COUNT
6.
A ~ is a small hard ball of minerals and other substances which sometimes forms in a person’s kidneys or gall bladder.
He had kidney ~s.
N-COUNT: usu n N
7.
The ~ in a plum, cherry, or other fruit is the large hard seed in the middle of it. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use pit )
N-COUNT
8.
If you ~ a fruit, you remove its ~. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use pit )
Then ~ the fruit and process the plums to a puree.
VERB: V n
9.
If people ~ someone or something, they throw ~s at them.
A post office was set on fire and vehicles were ~d by looters.
VERB: V n
10.
A ~ is a measurement of weight, especially the weight of a person, equal to 14 pounds or 6.35 kilograms. (BRIT)
I weighed around 16 ~.
N-COUNT: usu num N
11.
see also ~d , foundation ~ , paving ~ , precious ~ , stepping ~
12.
If you say that one place is a ~’s throw from another, you mean that the places are close to each other.
...a two-bedroom apartment just a ~’s throw from the beach...
Just a ~’s throw away is the City Art Gallery.
PHRASE: PHR prep/adv
13.
If you say that you will leave no ~ unturned, you are emphasizing that you will try every way you can think of in order to achieve what you want.
He said he would leave no ~ unturned in the search for peace.
PHRASE: V inflects emphasis
14.
kill two birds with one ~: see bird