whinstone

noun — 2 senses

noun

Etymology Possibly corrupted from quern stone, i.e. stone suitable for making querns; or else, from whin + stone.

Usually A stone used to crush whin for use as winter feed for cattle.

Usually Any hard dark-coloured rock.

Quarrying industry

‘A rough fellow, rather, Mrs. Dean. Is not that his character?‘ ‘Rough as a saw-edge, and hard as whinstone! The less you meddle with him the better.’1847, Emily Brontë, chapter IV, in Wuthering Heights:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.