stony
adjUK /ˈstəʊni/ · US /ˈstoʊni/
Etymology From Middle English stony, stoni, stani, from Old English stāniġ, stǣniġ (“stony, rocky”), from Proto-Germanic *stainagaz (“stony”), equivalent to stone + -y. Cognate with Scots stany (“stony”), West Frisian stienich (“stony”), Dutch stenig (“stony, metalled”), German steinig (“stony, rocky, gravelly”), Swedish stenig (“stony, rocky, pebbly”).
1
As hard as stone.
- a stony polymer
2
Containing or made up of stones.
- a stony path
- The track was stony with a grassy camber up the middle.2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 443:
3
Figuratively Of a person, lacking warmth and emotion.
- a stony grandmother
- When Victor Laszlo leads the demoralized French in the “Marseilles^([sic – meaning Marseillaise]),” and even Yvonne, the chippy who is sleeping with a Nazi officer, joins in, the stoniest intellectual collapses in tears.2012 March 19, David Denby, “Everybody Comes to Rick’s: “Casablanca” on the Big Screen”, in The New Yorker:
4
Figuratively Of an action or expression, such as a look, showing no warmth of emotion; (usually also) emotionally cold, silent, and motionless or nearly so.
- a stony reception
- a stony look
4 more examples
- a stony silence
- o’er the heaps of dead, / Whose stony eyes glared in the morning light, / I trod; […]1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 264:
- The Oscar-thrilled audience reacted to Mailer's attempt at humor in stony silence.1977 April 9, “Mailer Mauls "Perverts"”, in Gay Community News, page 2:
- Perplexed, Wheeler continues to play for a moment or two, keeping to his own internal time. But after another moment it becomes clear that something is wrong, something which everybody can see but him. He steals a glance up from his instrument, and finds that Luján is staring at him. In fact, every musician in the orchestra is staring at him, all of them wearing the same expression of stony, barely-contained ang— They've been replaced.2019 April 10, qntm, “CASE HATE RED”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 137:
- Seriously, Dedalus. I’m stony. Hurry out to your school kip and bring us back some money.1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- fall on stony ground, stonily, stoniness, Stony Brook, Stony Chute, stony coral, Stony Creek, Stony Crossing, stony-faced, stonyhearted, stony-iron, stony iron, Stony Point, Stony Stratford, unstony
- Related terms
- stonify, stony-broke, Hardstone