whinstone

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   chiefly British: hard, dark basaltic rock or traprock, often quarried for road stone

   The road was surfaced with crushed whinstone from a nearby quarry.

2. 2
   noun

   chiefly British: any of several other hard, dark, resistant rocks, including chert

   The mason selected whinstone that would withstand years of rain and traffic.

A compound of Scots and northern English whin, 'hard rock or stone,' + stone. The name was used broadly by quarrymen and engineers before modern geological classification narrowed many local rock names.

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