I.a stone, Hom., etc.: a precious stone, Hdt.: marble, id=Hdt.:—proverb., λίθον ἕψειν to boil a stone, i. e. "to lose one's labour," Ar.;— of stupidity, λίθοι blocks, stones, id=Ar.
2.stone as a substance, opp. to wood, flesh, etc, Il., etc.
II.also fem., Hom., Theocr.;—but the fem. was mostly used of some special stone, as the magnet, Eur., Plat.; of a touchstone, Plat.; ἡ διαφανὴς λ. a piece of crystal used for a burning glass, Ar.
III.at Athens, λίθος (masc.) was a name for various blocks of stone used for rostra or tribunes, as,
1.the Bema of the Pnyx, Ar.
3.an altar in the ἀγορά, Dem.
IV.a piece on a draughtboard, Theocr.
