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stoneware

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,873 of 15,258Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: stonewares

Stoneware is hard pottery fired until it is watertight without a glaze. A stoneware jar, glazed stoneware, heavy stoneware mugs.

The high firing turns the clay partly to glass, which is why stoneware holds liquid where earthenware would seep. It sits between earthenware and porcelain in both hardness and price.

Unknown · CC0

Definitions of stoneware

  1. 1nounstonewareHard pottery fired until it is watertight.C1

    “The cider was kept in a stoneware jar in the cellar.”

stoneware is a pottery.

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *steyh₂-

  2. Middle English

    ston

  3. English

    stone

  4. English, today

    stoneware

From stone + -ware. stone comes from Middle English ston. From Middle English ston, stone, stan, from Old English stān, from Proto-West Germanic stain, from Proto-Germanic stainaz (“stone”), from Proto-Indo-European steyh₂- (“to stiffen”). 2

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Antiques & Collecting

Practise this word

stoneware in the wild

  • A modern definition is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay.

    Stoneware

  • One definition of stoneware is from the Combined Nomenclature of the European Communities, a European industry standard.

    Stoneware

  • Most of the earlier Longquan celadon is on the border of stoneware and porcelain, meeting the Chinese but not the European definitions of porcelain.

    Celadon

  • Historically, porcelain was not a common material for tiles, which were much more often made of terracotta or stoneware.

    Porcelain tile

  • Taylor Company and Louisville Stoneware until sometime after its sale in July 2007, is a stoneware-producing company located in the Highlands section of Louisville, Kentucky.

    Louisville Stoneware

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • stone