Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A stone used for the shot of a catapult or cannon. Before the invention of iron balls, stones were commonly used as projectiles.
  • noun A flint prepared for insertion in the lock of a gun. See flint-lock.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A cannonball.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

gun +‎ stone: they were originally made from stone.

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Examples

  • The brute landed with the force and grace of an enormous gunstone, square on the roof of the small wagon.

    The Black Wing Kirchoff, Mary 1993

  • "In 1541, William Levett was the royal" gunstone maker ", that is, he made cast iron cannon-balls at a foundry in the Weald built by his elder brother in 1534.

    Barista 2009

Comments

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  • In heraldry, a roundel of sable color. Also ogress, pellet.

    October 5, 2011