| 释义 |
ˈsnake-stone
Also snakestone, snake stone.
[f. snake n.]
1. An ammonite. Now dial.
1661J. Childrey Brit. Bacon. 77 In this too they agree with the Snake-stones of Keinsham. 1668Charleton Onomast. 267 Sceleton Serpentis,..Ophiomorphites, Snake⁓stone. 1696Aubrey Nat. Hist. Wilts. (1847) 45 About two or three miles from the Devises are found in a pitt Snake⁓stones (cornua ammonis) no bigger than a sixpence. 1708Phil. Trans. XXVI. 78 The Sayler or (as 'tis commonly call'd) the Snake-stone. 1758[see ammonite 1]. 1828G. Young Geol. Surv. Yorksh. Coast 138 The well known Whitby snake-stones. 1854–in dialect glossaries (Yks., Linc., Northants., Leic.).
2. A porous or absorbent substance regarded as efficacious in curing snake-bite or as a remedy against poison; a serpent-stone.
1694Phil. Trans. XVIII. 128, I think they all recovered, to which he applyed the Snake-stones. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 53 A Factitious Stone (which we call a Snake-stone) is a Counter-poyson to all deadly Bites. 1822J. Flint Lett. Amer. 128 In some parts of the Union, what are called snake-stones are relied on as certain cures for the bite of the reptile, and of mad dogs. 1855Browning An Epistle 17 The vagrant Scholar to his Sage at home Sends..Three samples of true snake-stone. 1903Sir M. G. Gerard Leaves fr. Diaries x. 376 A snake-stone is..a secretion which occasionally forms on the palate of a snake's mouth.
3. A small perforated stone (cf. adder-stone, adder n.2 5).
1700Lhywd in Rowlands Mona Antiqua (1723) 338 Besides the Snake-Stones,..the Highlanders have their Snail-Stones, Paddoc-stones [etc.], to all which they attribute their several Virtues. 1872J. Evans Anc. Stone Impl. 391 In Harris and Lewis the distaff and spindle are still in common use, and yet the original intention of the stone spindle-whorls, which occur there as elsewhere, appears to be unknown. They are called clach-nathrach, adder-stones, or snake-stones.
4. techn. (See later quots.)
1850Holtzapffel Turning III. 1040 Marks are then made with a piece of snake-stone, blue-stone, or even common slate pencil. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Snake⁓stone, a kind of hone slate, or whetstone obtained in Scotland, and also known as Ayr stone. 1870Eng. Mech. 7 Jan. 417/3 The snakestone..used by lithographers..is a carbonate of lime, and is found in Germany and in India. The snake stone used by marble polishers is a fine grit, and is found at Water of Ayr. |