Wort des Tages
3 May 2026
slocking stone
A rich piece of ore displayed in order to tempt people to embark in a mining enterprise.
Warum dieses Wort
From the Cornish dialect verb to slock, meaning to entice or lure away, also used of poaching another mine's men. The stone was real ore; the deceit was implying the whole lode ran that rich.
In use
He came round the office with a lump of ore the size of a fist, and it was a slocking stone if ever I saw one.
Written by our editors to show how the term is used, not a recorded quotation.