What does curbstone mean?
A curbstone is one of the long stones or precast concrete blocks that form the raised edge between a roadway and a pavement or sidewalk — the strip your foot meets when stepping off a bus or crossing a street. In everyday conversation most people simply say 'curb' (or 'kerb' in Britain), but 'curbstone' names the physical stone itself and appears often in descriptive or literary writing. Beyond its literal sense, the word has an interesting American history: in the nineteenth century, unlicensed stock traders conducted business outdoors on the curbstones of New York's financial district, earning the name 'curbstone brokers'; their open-air market eventually evolved into a formal exchange. Related phrases such as 'curbstone market', 'curbstone broker', and 'curbstone opinion' draw on this image of street-level, informal dealing. Whether describing urban infrastructure or harking back to Wall Street's outdoor beginnings, 'curbstone' carries connotations of the ordinary street and of commerce conducted outside official channels. It is a concrete, countable noun with the plural 'curbstones'.
A long, shaped stone or block of concrete forming the raised edging between a roadway and a sidewalk.
"Vendors lined their carts along the curbstone at the edge of the square."
British English uses the spelling 'kerbstone'; the plain word 'curb'/'kerb' is more common in casual speech.
(Figurative, chiefly US) The street as a setting for informal trading or public commentary, as in 'curbstone broker' or 'curbstone market'.
"Curbstone brokers once filled lower Manhattan's streets before exchanges moved indoors."
Standard countable plural; used when referring to multiple individual edging stones.
"Workmen pried up several loose curbstones to repair the drainage pipe."
Before it had a building, the New York Stock Exchange traded on curbstones — brokers literally shouting orders from the street, giving rise to the term 'curbstone broker'.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of curbstone
Curbstone is a straightforward English compound of 'curb' (or British 'kerb') plus 'stone', first attested in the seventeenth century. The element 'curb/kerb' derives from Old French 'courbe', meaning 'curve' or 'bend', ultimately from Latin 'curvus', meaning 'bent' or 'crooked' — reflecting the curved or bent edge the stone forms along a street. The word shares this Latin root with 'curve', 'curved', and related forms such as 'incurvate'. Its figurative financial sense grew out of nineteenth-century American street trading.
How curbstone is actually used
The spelling 'kerbstone' with a 'k' is standard in British English and other Commonwealth varieties; 'curbstone' is standard in American English. The compound noun 'curb' alone is far more common in everyday speech, so 'curbstone' can carry a slightly formal or old-fashioned flavour. Figurative uses such as 'curbstone market' are largely historical or journalistic.
Easily confused with curbstone
Kerbstone is simply the British spelling of the same word (with kerb rather than curb), not a different object.