Other forms: touchstones
A touchstone is a standard by which other things are judged. The touchstone of quality, a cultural touchstone, remains the touchstone.
The original was a real object: a dark stone that gold was rubbed against, since the colour of the streak showed its purity. A cultural touchstone is a work everybody knows well enough to measure others by.
1nountouchstoneA standard by which other things are judged.
“Customer happiness is the touchstone by which we judge every new idea.”
touchstone is a standard.
Touch plus stone, from the dark stone gold was rubbed against to test its purity.
From touch + stone.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA