bluestone

plural bluestones

1. countableuncountableAny of several bluish-grey varieties of stone used for construction

   William rented the house on the corner of Lefevre Terrace and Tynte Street: a two-storey home of local bluestone with stuccoed enrichments, in high Victorian Italianate style.

   2008, John Jenkin, William and Lawrence Bragg, Father and Son, unnumbered page

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   Its people are proud of their history and heritage of free settlement and the famous bluestone homes and public buildings of Adelaide are among the most orderly and best cared for examples of colonial architecture in the country.

   2000, Laura Veltman, Living and Working in Australia: All you need to know for starting a new life ‘down under’, 7th edition, page 184

   Hanson Chambers, as 56 Carrington Street was eventually known, confirmed the tradition that the South Australian bar would develop as a series of small enclaves, more often than not in old, bluestone buildings dating back to the nineteenth century.

   2006, John Emerson, History of the Independent Bar of South Australia, page 23

   Mackenzie Wool and Hide now exported leather products around the world and, in a roundabout manner, and along with my parents, was helping us buy our bluestone cottage in the Adelaide suburb of Unley.

   2009, Josephine Emery, The Real Possibility of Joy: A Personal Journey from Man to Woman, unnumbered page

2. Any of several bluish-grey varieties of stone used for construction:
   1. UKcountableuncountableA form of dolerite which appears blue when wet or freshly broken.
   2. UKcountableuncountableAny of the several (massive) kinds of non-local stone (particularly dolerite) used to construct Stonehenge.
   3. CanadaUScountableuncountableA feldspathic sandstone found in the US and Canada.
   4. UScountableuncountableA form of limestone found in the Shenandoah Valley and some other places.
   5. AustraliaNew ZealandcountableuncountableA bluish-grey basalt or olivine basalt.
   6. AustraliaSouthcountableuncountableSlate, such as comes from quarries in or near Adelaide.
3. Either of two related copper- and sulfur-based bright blue stones:
   1. countableuncountableCopper(II) sulfate, CuSO₄(H₂O)ₓ where x is 0-5, used as a coloring agent in glass-making and pottery and for other purposes.

      Bordeaux mixture is a combination of bluestone (copper sulfate) and lime (calcium hydroxide).

      2001, Steve H. Dreistadt, Integrated Pest Management for Floriculture and Nurseries, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, →ISBN, page 92

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      ‘You’ve on’y to soak the blade of the axe in bluestone the night before y’ start ringin’.’

      1911, ‘Steel Rudd’, The Book of Dan, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, published 1970, page 27

      This consists of thoroughly spraying the plants with Bordeaux mixture once in ten days or two weeks after they have begun to run. Bordeaux mixture is made by bringing together the milk of lime and a solution of copper sulphate (bluestone).

      1924, Farmers' Bulletin, page 4

      This is, however, one of those cases in which you can use the chemical copper sulphate to study the process and theory while you are hunting down some bluestone. Take bluestone or copper sulphate and dissolve it in heated distilled water, ...

      2006, Brian Cotnoir, The Weiser Concise Guide to Alchemy, Weiser Books, →ISBN

   2. countableuncountableChalcanthite, a water-soluble sulfate mineral, CuSO₄·5H₂O.

      […] of the mineral is a somewhat lighter shade of blue than that of bluestone (chalcanthite CuSOiSHjO).

      1949, The Canadian Mineralogist

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      This belt is about 1,000 feet wide at the McConnell Mine, and ends a few hundred yards north of the Bluestone. […] It was worked about 30 years ago, and for a time supplied natural bluestone (chalcanthite) to the amalgamating mills ...

      1910, Colliery Engineer, page 89

      In some of the claims chalcanthite — or bluestone — was found in quantities that could be mined profitably. This ore formed the principal output of the area in the early days, being shipped to Virginia City to furnish the copper sulphate used in ...

      1951, The Desert Magazine

      Very high-grade copper ore was produced including natural "bluestone" (chalcanthite) which was used in the silver mills of the Comstock.

      1966, Gems and Minerals

4. countableuncountableLapis lazuli, or its core constituent, lazurite.

   Cedar from the Lebanon forests; lapis lazuli bluestone from sources as far away as Afghanistan; and ivory, ebony, [and] gold, […]

   2013, William H. Peck, The Material World of Ancient Egypt, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN

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   From Cyprus were brought bricks of lead, with bluestone and elephant's tusks, and the vases were carved in fanciful designs, with the heads of goats, lions, bulls, and eagles.

   1892, Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell, Littell's Living Age, page 23

   […] but the “bluestone,” or lapis lazuli, was quarried by the Egyptians in the Sinaitic peninsula, and to these mines, perhaps, the author refers.

   1898, Palestine Exploration Quarterly

   Likewise, mineral analysis led him to the discovery of ultramarine or artificial lapis lazuli. […] Moreover, as should be noted, a so-called "Babel lazulite" was offered as tribute in addition to the genuine lapis lazuli or bluestone, and the Egyptians themselves manufactured this artificial lazulite.

   1965, Aaron John Ihde, William Franklin Kieffer, Selected readings in the history of chemistry

present singular third person bluestones · participle present bluestoning · participle past bluestoned · past bluestoned

1. transitiveTo treat or dose with copper sulfate.

   Bluestoning at any time of the year will destroy a number of snails […]

   1948, The Tasmanian Journal of Agriculture, volumes 19-22, page 20

1. A surname.