Touchstone
['tʌtʃstəʊn] or ['tʌtʃ'ston]
Definition
(n.) Lydian stone; basanite; -- so called because used to test the purity of gold and silver by the streak which is left upon the stone when it is rubbed by the metal. See Basanite.
(n.) Any test or criterion by which the qualities of a thing are tried.
Checked by Darren
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Basanite, black jasper, Lydian stone.[2]. Test, criterion, proof, ordeal, assay, touch.
Editor: Louise
Examples
- His own knowledge was high, she was the central touchstone of truth. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- There is, of course, no infallible touchstone by which we can tell offhand. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Gold can be only known by the application of the touchstone. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- You appear to me to be the very touchstone of responsibility. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- But as a fact of immediate politics, as a touchstone applied quickly to all the acts of statecraft in America it belongs to the Twentieth Century. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Typist: Patricia