limestone

From lime +‎ stone.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪmˌstoʊn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪmˌstəʊn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪmstəʊn

limestone (countable and uncountable, plural limestones)

1. An abundant rock of marine and fresh-water sediments; primarily composed of calcite (CaCO₃); it occurs in a variety of forms, both crystalline and amorphous.

   a limestone viaduct

   • 1939 July, “What the Railways are Doing: The New Ebbw Vale Steelworks”, in Railway Magazine, page 68:

     As each blast furnace uses 200 tons of limestone daily, and each limestone kiln 150 tons, a total of 730 tons of limestone has to be carried daily, in addition to limestone chippings, which are sold.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.

• lime
• calcium carbonate

• (mineralogy): bluestone, burrstone, calp, coquina, coral rag, chalk, malm, marble, travertine, tufa

• karst

• lemoniest, milestone