curbstone

American

[kurb-stohn] / ˈkɜrbˌstoʊn /

British, kerbstone

noun

one of the stones, or a range of stones, forming a curb, as along a street.

curbstone British

/ ˈkɜːbˌstəʊn /

noun

the US spelling of kerbstone

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of curbstone

First recorded in 1785–95; curb + stone

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

curbstone

In our tests, the Chef’sChoice ProntoPro 4643 took seriously dull blades—we ran them against a chunk of concrete curbstone until they were all but useless—to tomato-filleting sharpness in less than a minute.

From Slate ● Oct. 11, 2018

To ensure truly, appallingly dull blades, we ground their edges repeatedly against a piece of concrete curbstone.

From Slate ● Oct. 11, 2018

When University of California officials refused to let Wallace speak in any university building, 10,000 students left their classes to hear him talk from a Berkeley curbstone near the campus gates.

From Time Magazine Archive

Professor Harold F. Clark of Columbia and Dr. Carl Norcross concluded Photo-Facts with a curbstone lesson in popular economics, "Easy Money for Everyone."

From Time Magazine Archive

I saved myself from landing on my head by clutching a curbstone with my hands.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023