stony

comparative stonier · superlative stoniest · alternative stoney

1. As hard as stone.

   a stony polymer

   Synonyms: rock hard, stonelike · Antonyms: soft

2. Containing or made up of stones.

   a stony path

   1 more example

   The track was stony with a grassy camber up the middle.

   2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 443

   Synonyms: pebbly, rocky, shingly

3. figurativelyOf a person, lacking warmth and emotion.

   a stony grandmother

   1 more example

   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

   Synonyms: stone cold, cold, cool, hardhearted, heartless, impassive, unemotional, unfeeling · Antonyms: passionate, warm

4. figurativelyOf 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 look

   5 more examples

   a stony reception

   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

   Synonyms: stone cold, cold, cool, frosty, unwelcoming · Antonyms: welcoming, warm

5. AustraliaUKabbreviationellipsisslangEllipsis of stony broke: without any money.

   Seriously, Dedalus. I’m stony. Hurry out to your school kip and bring us back some money.

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: stone broke, almsless, arm, badly off, bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, boracic

1. slanglifestyleThe ship of characters Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Tony Stark (Iron Man) from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

   It tugged at my heartstrings with Steve's memories, as well as giving me so many Stony feels.

   2013 July, “Fandoms Assemble 2013 Fanfic Awards”, in Fandoms Assemble, page 21

   2 more examples

   The "Stony" fandom takes the comic remediation ship or genderswap and removes it from its aesthetic relationship by placing it within a new remediated work.

   2013 July, Poe Johnson, “Cultural Memory as Fandom Ideology in the Remediated World”, in The Phoenix Papers, volume 1, number 2, page 51

   The largest ships in the MCU are “Stucky” (Steve Rogers AKA Captain America and Bucky Barnes AKA the Winter Soldier) and “Stony” (Steve Rogers and Tony Stark AKA Iron Man).

   2016, Olivia Riley, "Queerness and Emotion in Fanfiction", thesis submitted to the University of Minnesota, page 10