Meanings
nounroofstone (plural roofstones)
plural roofstones
- businessThe stone or rock layer immediately above a coal seam.
The intention of the props is for the security of the workmen to keep up the roofstone; they have no effect in resisting the crush of the super-incumbent strata.
1830, The Edinburgh Encyclopædia, volume 14, page 352 - archaeologyA large, usually flat stone slab placed atop the side-stones (orthostats) of a megalithic burial chamber—such as in portal tombs, wedge tombs, or gallery graves—to form a roof covering the interior space.
Origin
Cite this entry
APA
roofstone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roofstone
MLA
“roofstone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roofstone. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “roofstone,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roofstone.
Source: roofstone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.