cobble-stone

A form of cobblestone — A rounded stone from a river bed, fit for use as ballast in ships and for paving roads.

Meanings

nouncobble-stone (countable and uncountable, plural cobble-stones)

plural cobble-stones

  1. alternativecountableuncountableAlternative form of cobblestone.

    Between were the cobble-stones of the Rue St. Martin and the clatter of innumerable feet.

    1893, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Man from America”, in The Refugees: A Tale of Two Continents, volume I, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, [part I (In the Old World)], page 1
    3 more examples

    I walked on a couple of miles through the gloomy old town with houses eighty or a hundred feet high, the narrow sidewalks paved with cobble-stone, the common people taking the middle of the street.

    1851, Andrew Dickinson, “France”, in My First Visit to Europe: or, Sketches of Society, Scenery, and Antiquities, in England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and France, New York, N.Y.: […] George P[almer] Putnam, […]; London: John Chapman, […], →OCLC, page 157

    He talked of diorites, trachytes, of triassic rocks, and calcareous veins till my brain reeled, and he finally left me with the impression that even the cobble-stone is not to be despised as a milling proposition.

    1916, Edgar Wallace, The Island of Galloping Gold, London: George Newnes, Ltd., […], →OCLC, page 68

    The ground beneath her feet is extraordinarily smooth, as near as cobble-stones can get to parquetry; she imagines an army of paviours patiently completing it like a jigsaw puzzle while the placid citizens look on.

    2002, Michel Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White, Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt, Inc., →ISBN, page 238
Cite this entry
APA

cobble-stone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cobble-stone

MLA

“cobble-stone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cobble-stone. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cobble-stone,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cobble-stone.

Source: cobble-stone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.