Brewer's: Corner-stone

(The). The chief corner-stone. A large stone laid at the base of a building to strengthen the two walls forming a right angle. These stones in some ancient buildings were as much as twenty feet long and eight feet thick. Christ is called (in Eph. ii. 20) the chief corner-stone because He united the Jews and Gentiles into one family. Daughters are called corner-stones (Psalm cliv. 12) because, as wives and mothers, they unite together two families. In argument, the minor premise is the chief corner-stone.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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