Moeraki bouldern.
/ˌməʊərakɪ ˈbəʊldə/, /ˌmɔɪ(ə)rakɪ ˈbəʊldə/, U.S. /ˌmoʊəˌræki ˈboʊldər/, /ˌmɔɪ(ə)ˌræki ˈboʊldər/, New Zealand English /ˌmoerʌki ˈbʌuldə/ New Zealand.
Any of the distinctive spherical boulders, up to 6 feet (2 metres) in diameter, formed by crystallization around an organic core or seed and found on beaches near Moeraki, New Zealand.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > [noun] > a rock > boulder > types of
whinstonea1585
Saracen's stone1644
grey wethers1660
sarsena1697
grey goose1816
Moeraki boulder1879
1844 G. A. Selwyn Jrnl. 19 Jan. in Church in Colonies (1851) VIII. 15 After breakfast we walked on to Moerangi whaling station, passing on the way..some most remarkable boulders, which appear to have been formed not by rolling but by crystallization.]
1879 Auckland Weekly News 4 Oct. 15 The irregularity in composition of the Moeraki boulders is so great that it would be practically impossible to manufacture cement from them of uniform quality.
1903 Trans. & Proc. N.Z. Inst. 1902 35 193 They appear to be of a dense black basalt, many of them round in shape, and..somewhat of the look of Moeraki boulders.
1940 W. G. McClymont Explor. N.Z. (1959) 49 [Mantell] studied the Moeraki boulders and remarked that the whalers called them ‘Ninepins’ and the spot itself ‘Vulcan's Foundry’.
1991 Dominion Sunday Times (Wellington) 28 Apr. 2 They [sc. the Maori community] planned to take sightseers to the mammals..and flora in the area, and the famous Moeraki boulders.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1879