Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A paving stone, especially one that is naturally rounded.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A cobble or rounded stone; especially, such a stone used in paving.
  • To pave with cobblestones.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A large pebble; a rounded stone not too large to be handled; a small boulder; -- used for paving streets and for other purposes.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A rounded stone from a river bed, fit for use as ballast in ships and for paving roads.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb pave with cobblestones
  • noun rectangular paving stone with curved top; once used to make roads

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English cobelston : obsolete cobel, probably diminutive of cob, round object; see cob + Middle English ston, stone, stone; see stone.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English kobilstane, from cobble (probably a diminutive of one of various words cob, presumed to stem from a Proto-Germanic root kubb- "something rounded") + Old English stan ("stone")

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Examples

  • "If you have not had your fill of ghost-ridden heroes, needy orphans, and foggy nights in cobblestone streets, this sequel - with its breakneck plot, colorful characters, and the reappearance of Scrooge and the Cratchits - will fill the bill."

    Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard: Book summary 2010

  • This type of cobblestone is typical on the hillsides even when fronting million dollar homes.

    Treasure of the Sierra Madre -- wintering in San Miguel de Allende 2008

  • This type of cobblestone is typical on the hillsides even when fronting million dollar homes.

    Treasure of the Sierra Madre -- wintering in San Miguel de Allende 2008

  • Rubén was correct in his explanation of a "cobblestone" street.

    Empedradillo 2002

  • Winding our way through the city streets, the jangle of harnesses and the steady clop of our horses’ hooves on the cobblestone were the only sounds.

    Belle Cameron Dokey 2008

  • Winding our way through the city streets, the jangle of harnesses and the steady clop of our horses’ hooves on the cobblestone were the only sounds.

    Belle Cameron Dokey 2008

  • Winding our way through the city streets, the jangle of harnesses and the steady clop of our horses’ hooves on the cobblestone were the only sounds.

    Belle Cameron Dokey 2008

  • Winding our way through the city streets, the jangle of harnesses and the steady clop of our horses’ hooves on the cobblestone were the only sounds.

    Belle Cameron Dokey 2008

  • When they stepped from their carriages onto the cobblestone streets, they could see that they were in for a very long war.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • One rainy day I walked to an out-of-the-way section of town where the buildings were old, and the streets were cobblestone.

    Still Life Jack Swenson 2011

Comments

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  • These are downright obnoxious when they're too rounded; I can see why they went out of fashion.

    August 20, 2007

  • slow down, you move too fast

    you got to make the morning last

    just kicking down the cobble stones...

    (Simon & Garfunkel)

    September 25, 2007

  • In Russian, the word for cobblestone is "bulyzhnik," a lovely roundish word that fits nicely in the hand of a revolutionary. In Slovene, the humble cobblestone is the more angular "tlakovec" (the final "c" is pronounced as "ts"), a word that still seems to carry the echoes of horse hooves and carriage wheels.

    November 26, 2007

  • Great comment, rolig. I love bulyzhnik!

    November 27, 2007