a. [f. STONE sb. + -LESS.] Destitute of stone or stones; having or containing no stone.

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1823.  Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), I. 264. A fine, buttery, stoneless loam.

2

1893.  F. Davis, Silchester, 62. In a stoneless country, the fabric of the deserted city would rapidly be appropriated as building material.

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  b.  Having no tombstone.

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1834.  Fraser’s Mag., X. 654. The nameless, stoneless, lime-filled grave-hole.

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1882.  Jas. Walker, Jaunt to Auld Reekie, 162. A digging sexton … points to a stoneless grave.

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  c.  Of fruit: see STONE sb. 12.

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1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 673. Barberry,… stoneless.

8

1860.  Times, 14 Nov., 9/6. A favourite fruit with the Chinaman is the classic lotos, in shape like a small melon; it is full of stoneless kernels, sweet and pleasant to the palate.

9

1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 243/2. Stoneless sultana raisins from Smyrna.

10

  Hence Stonelessness.

11

1891.  Athenæum, 30 May, 708/1. Is it quite certain that the vallum … is not … marked by the same virtual stonelessness?

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