kerbstone

English

Etymology

From kerb +‎ stone.

Noun

kerbstone (plural kerbstones)

1. A paving stone that forms part of a kerb.
   • 1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act I, page 115:

     You see this creature with her kerbstone English: the English that will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days. Well, sir, in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party.

   • 1953, James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain, New York, N.Y.: Knopf, →OCLC, part 2 (The Prayers of the Saints):

     Gabriel often saw him on the streets, playing on the curbstone with other boys his age.

Alternative forms

• curbstone (US)

Anagrams

• beer knots