Hair Stane
Preserved but no longer current.
A hoar-stone (#.v.) is so called in Scotland, Hajar al-Aswad (ha/ jaral as' wad). The fa- mous black stone in the north-east corner of the Kaaba; it is an irregular oval, about 7 in. in breadth, and is surrounded with a circle of gold. The legend is that when Abraham wished to build the Kaaba, the stones came to him of their own accord, and the patriarch commanded all the faithful to kiss this one.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Hair Stane” mean?
A hoar-stone (#.v.) is so called in Scotland, Hajar al-Aswad (ha/ jaral as' wad). The fa- mous black stone in the north-east corner of the Kaaba; it is an irregular oval, about 7 in. in breadth, and is surrounded with a circle of gold. The legend is that when Abraham wished to build the Kaaba, the stones came to him of their own accord, and the patriarch commanded all the faithful to kiss this one.
Is “Hair Stane” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.