stony

• stoney (obsolete)

From Middle English stony, stoni, stani, from Old English stāniġ, stǣniġ (“stony, rocky”), from Proto-Germanic *stainagaz (“stony”), equivalent to stone +‎ -y. Cognate with Scots stany (“stony”), West Frisian stienich (“stony”), Dutch stenig (“stony, metalled”), German steinig (“stony, rocky, gravelly”), Swedish stenig (“stony, rocky, pebbly”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈstəʊni/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈstoʊni/

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• Rhymes: -əʊni

stony (comparative stonier, superlative stoniest)

1. As hard as stone.

   Synonym: rock-hard

   Antonym: soft

2. Containing or made up of stones.

   Synonyms: pebbly, rocky, shingly

   a stony path

   • 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 443:

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

3. (figuratively) Of a person, lacking warmth and emotion.

   Synonyms: cold, cool, hard-hearted, heartless, impassive, unemotional, unfeeling

   Antonyms: passionate, warm

   • 2012 March 19, David Denby, “Everybody Comes to Rick’s: “Casablanca” on the Big Screen”, in The New Yorker‎:

     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.

4. (figuratively) Of an action or expression such as a look, showing no warmth of emotion.

   Synonyms: cold, cool, frosty, unwelcoming

   Antonyms: welcoming, warm

   She gave him a stony reception.

   • 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:

     o’er the heaps of dead, / Whose stony eyes glared in the morning light, / I trod; […]

   • 1977 April 9, “Mailer Mauls "Perverts"”, in Gay Community News, page 2:

     The Oscar-thrilled audience reacted to Mailer's attempt at humor in stony silence.

5. (UK and Australia, slang) Short for stony broke: without any money.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:impoverished

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

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

• “stony, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1917.

• Tonys, Tyson, synto

• stani, staniȝ, stany, stoni, stonye

Inherited from Old English stāniġ, from Proto-West Germanic *stainag, from Proto-Germanic *stainagaz; equivalent to ston +‎ -y.

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɔːniː/

stony

1. Comprised or composed of stone or rock
2. Made or built of stone or rock
3. Covered in stones or pebbles
4. Inhabiting a stony environment
5. (figurative) emotionless; stolid
6. (medicine) hard, solid

• English: stony
• Scots: stany

• “stōnī, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-10.