stone n.1
1. usu. in pl., a testicle.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | poem in (ed.) New Pelican Guide to Eng. Lit. I (rev. edn 1982) 588: I have a poket for the nonys, / Therine ben tweyne precyous stonys. | |
| Play of Weather in Farmer Dramatic Writings (1905) 118: So oft have we pecked that our stones wax right thin, / And all our other gear not worth a pin. | |
| Dictionarie in Eng. and Latine ‘Parts of the bodie’ U: A stone, testiculus. | |
| ‘Libel of Oxford’ in May & Bryson Verse Libel 316: The English hoy flees Irish stones, / And setting her ferk sayles to view. | |
| ‘Cambridg Libell’ in May & Bryson Verse Libel 341: Thie stones doe Rolle and geat no mosse, / Still grynding others grayne. | |
| Mother Bombie III iv: Ther came an angrie cooke, and gelded the Iewry of theyre stones. | |
| ‘Epitaph’ in (1969) 131: One stone sufficeth (lo, what death can do!) / Her than in life was not content with two. | |
| Bartholomew Fair I v: If a leg or an arm on him did not grow on, he would lose it i’ the press. Pray heaven I bring him off with one stone! | |
| Renegado III iv: Ile part with all my stones, and when I am An Eunuch, Ile so tosse and towse the Ladies. | |
| Mercurius Fumigosus 22 25 Oct.–1 Nov. 190: Before her Book I’de Knock, I’de see th’ Devil dam her, / Unless I made account to spoile my Stone and Hammer. [Ibid.] 23 1–8 Nov. 201: The City knockers are next week to have a Feast of Rams stones at fumblers Hall. | |
| ‘A Ffreinde of Mine’ in Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript of Loose and Humorous Songs (1868) 90: Sshe caught him ffast by the stones: thumsbes; / whereatt he vext and greiued was, / soe that his fflesh did wrinkle. | |
| Thousand Notable Things 287: You have done nothing else for many years, but lay your stones in foul places, with your Whores and Courtezans. | |
| ‘The Gelding of the Devil’ in Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) II 63: The Baker being lighted from his Horse, / Cut the Devil’s Stones from his Arse. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Teagueland Jests I 103: Dish Mare would mauke de fine Gaulding indeed, if she had but two Stones betwixt her Legs. | |
| ‘Song’ in Pills to Purge Melancholy I 64: And all the while he sticks it in, / The Stones cry Clack, Clack, Clack. | |
| Essay to Prove Cold Bathing (2nd edn) II 208: In a few Days the poor Gentleman squirted out his Soul, and then this Physick Ananias look’d like a Dog that had lost his Stones. | |
| Laugh and Be Fat 24: When she was fast locked in the Embraces of her new Bedfellow [she] to ask him what was become of those delicate rich Stones [...] My Dear, replied the Bridegroom, here they are at your Service, upon my word they are the individual Jewels my Uncle bid me thirty thousand pounds for. | |
| Dialogue Between a Married Lady and a Maid II: Underneath, hangs in a Bag, or Purse, two little Balls, pretty hard, [...] they call them Stones. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Gentleman’s Bottle-Companion 14: Here’s the Miller’s wife’s music, worth all other tones, / When the sluice is set open, and strong grind the stones. | |
| Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies 76: She is the daughter of a jeweller [...] and is a very good judge of precious stones. [...] and loves to set them in a black hair ring . | |
| ‘Answer to Darby O’Gallagher’ Songs 5: Then with a stout Blow, / Of two Stones Below, / He made her to Scream like a Cat in a Factory. | |
| Banquet of Wit 102: Sentiments and Toasts [...] The industrious maid that scours the yard, and keeps the stones clean. | |
| ‘McClure’s Ramble’ in A. Carpenter Verse in Eng. in 18C Ireland (1998) 503: My scythe’s in good order, my striekle [i.e. sharpener] and stone at command. | |
| ‘The Butcher’s Tail & The Lamb’s Stones!’ Icky-Wickey Songster 5: I wants a long tail, and two tender lamb’s stones. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Dixon’s Polyanthos 6 June n.p.: The very shrewd suggestion that now [Julia] and Fanny [two well-known whores] had taken hold of the stones the monument must rise. | |
| Venus’ Miscellany (NY) 23 May n.p.: ‘I knew Brother Jones when he had his stines and [...] now Brother Jones is an altered man’. | |
| ‘The Boarding School’ Rakish Rhymer (1917) 50: Two milk white stones before the door, and a yard for all the ladies. | |
| Sins of the Cities of the Plain 14: A fine prick with very small or scarcely any stones to it. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Dead Bird (Sydney) 7 Dec. 1/1: ‘Easy over the stones,’ said the monkey when the cart ran over his tail. | |
 | in Memoirs (1983) 56: Then parting his thighs placed myself between them, lifting his stones so that I could caress each one. | |
| ‘In the Black Berry Patch’ in Bawdy N.Y. State MS. n.p.: Were I your lips I would speak in tones / That would make conjunctions take place in your stones. | |
| Anecdota Americana I 68: As he outlined his points against the bill Senator Hoare kept first his right hand, and then his left in his trousers’ pockets. Senator Conkling [...] rose to remark that ‘the Senator from Massachusetts seems to be leaving no stone unturned to prevent the passage of this bill.’. | |
| ‘Betty Co-Ed’ [comic strip] in Tijuana Bibles (1997) 58: One female suck off stones in mouth ... 1.50. | |
| in Limerick (1953) 303: A mason, one of the Malones / Put a coat of cement on his stones. | |
| (con. 1948) Flee the Angry Strangers 303: He’s tellin squares and bohawks he got to cut off my stones for hystin him. | |
| Sheeper 192: The two stones in his scrotum are swollen. | |
| Life at the Bottom 201: He’s standin’ naked as a hen in a meat house, freezin’ his stones off. | |
| Lowspeak. | |
| Mad mag. July 47: You admit to having a small johnson! Now I know you don’t have the stones to go with it. | |
| (con. WWII) Father of the Man Prologue: ‘Balls,’ Conklin explained, ‘sometimes referred to as nuts, gonads, stones, rocks, cods, cullions, bollocks, family jewels, or – for the learned among us – testicles or testes.’. | |
| Rough Riders 211: You’ve got a pair of stones, I’ll give you that. | |
| Boy from County Hell 24: [O]nly muscle for the goombahs or the Dixie Mafia would have the stones to treat a man that way. | |
| Empty Wigs (t/s) 251: [note] Stones are testicles. The French valseuses is more graphic but the authors of the King James Bible were either not apprised of the word or loath to use it. |
2. (US Und.) a diamond, or jewel.
| Boy’s Own Paper 29 Dec. 198: His wife’s away, but she hasn’t taken the stones. | |
| Types From City Streets 54: All you’ve got ter do is to jab her one and take the stones, see? | |
| White Moll 221: We’ve as good as got the stones now. | |
| Green Ice (1988) 101: Stones – I was pretty sure of that. Maybe diamonds, maybe not. | |
| Rover 18 Feb. 8: I mean to have that stone. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| Und. Nights 16: She was going to wear all her ice, every stone of it. | |
| ‘To Hull and Back’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Unless I can catch the courier with the stones on him I’m knackered. |
3. in fig. use of sense 1, courage, bravery; usu. in pl.; thus stoneness n., masculinity, adulthood, courage.
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 15–6: It was all part of becoming hombre, of wanting to have a beard to shave, a driver’s license, a draft card, a ‘stoneness’ which enabled you to go into a bar like a man. | |
| Ladies’ Man (1985) 8: I would even have the stones to call it being supportive. | |
| Bonfire of the Vanities 615: He’s got a pair of stones. With him, at least you got a fighting chance. | |
| Hard Candy (1990) 152: He ain’t got the stones to go it alone. | |
| Homeboy 55: One caper I’ve had on the drawing board only I didn’t have the stones. | |
| Snitch Jacket 213: It isn’t that Gerry Finkel lacked the stones. | |
| ‘Houston’ in ThugLit Mar. [ebook] But just before I managed the stones to say something, she answered yes. | |
| (con. 1991-94) City of Margins 13: ‘This guy’s got stones. What’d you say?’. | |
| Twitter 19 Aug. 🌐 [female speaker] Twitter, I am going to have to buy a new computer as I’ve worn out this one. I am not sure I have the stones for this. |
4. (drugs) crack cocaine; usu. in pl.
| ‘Pocket Full of Stones’ 🎵 My workers [...] gettin cash for puttin stones in the pockets of the fiends. | |
| Indep. on Sun. Rev. 19 Aug. 21: The drug is a concentrated type of cocaine, which comes in the form of ‘stones’ or ‘rocks’. | |
| ‘The Game Belongs To Me’ 🎵 I’m still that young boy that had a pocket full of stones. | |
| Viva La Madness 42: She starts pipin, smoking stones. Crack! | |
| (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Stones - pellets of crack. |
5. (UK black/gang) a bullet.
| (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Stones - bullets. |
In compounds
(US) sexual frustration, allegedly causing pain in the testicles.
| Down in the Holler 104: Unsatisfied sexual desire in the male is called either stone-ache or horn colic. | |
| Cunning Linguist (1973) 81: He had the worst case of three-leggedness and the Great Stone Ache I have ever seen. | |
| Dead Solid Perfect 28: ‘Uh, hold it. Hard left. [...] White pants. Red blouse. Hmmmm. Stone Ache City’. |
a prostitute.
| Yokel’s Preceptor [title page] A full Description of the Most Famous Stone-Thumpers, particularly Elephant Bet, Finnikin Fan, the Yarmouth Bloater, Flabby Poll, Fair Eliza, the Black Mott, etc. |
In phrases
of a woman, to fall into an immoral lifestyle.
| Satire on the French King in Works (1760) I 60: My spouse, alas! must flaunt in silks no more, / Pray heav’n for sustenance she turn not whore; / And daughter Betty too, in time, I fear, / Will learn to take a stone up in her ear. |
1. (US Und.) a diamond.
| Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) I x: Whitey Mack [...] whose particular ‘line’ was diamonds, or, in the vernacular of his ilk, ‘white stones’. |
2. (US black) a fake diamond, esp. as used in a confidence trick.
| (con. 1940s) cited in Juba to Jive (1994). |
In exclamations
(US) an oath of intensification.
| Wkly Natchez Courier (MS) 15 Sept. 1/1: He swore, stone and bone, and might the devil have his soul [...] by stone and bone I have been in a kingdom where foxes are as big as bulls in this! |