tombstone

• tomb-stone (archaic)

From tomb +‎ stone.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tuːmstəʊn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /tuːmstoʊn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

tombstone (plural tombstones)

1. A grave marker, a stone slab or similar object marking a person's grave.

   Synonyms: headstone, gravestone, grave marker

   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Jacob's Room:

     True, there's no harm in crying for one's husband, and the tombstone, though plain, was a solid piece of work, and on summer's days when the widow brought her boys to stand there one felt kindly towards her.

2. (mathematics) The symbol "∎" marking the end of a proof.

   Synonym: halmos

3. (computing, Microsoft Windows) A marker that takes the place of deleted data, allowing for replication of the deletion across servers etc.
   • 2008, Laura E. Hunter, Robbie Allen, Active Directory Cookbook, page 739:

     If you attempt to restore a backup that is older than the tombstone lifetime, it may introduce objects that were deleted […]

4. (computing) A crashdump.
   • 2014, Joshua J. Drake, Zach Lanier, Collin Mulliner, Android Hacker's Handbook, page 186:

     This actually results in a crash dump, which is written to the log and to a tombstone file.

5. (cardiology) An unusual morphological feature on an electrocardiogram indicative of acute myocardial infarction, characterized by a massive ST elevation.
6. (journalism) A printed advertisement in a newspaper or magazine, typically having unadorned centered text in black and white, enclosed in a simple box.
7. (art) A museum plaque or caption displaying information about a work of art or exhibited object.
   • 2015, Harvard Art Museum, Writing on the Wall:

     The last bit of information on each tombstone is an accession number—an alphanumeric block that is assigned when an object is added (accessioned) to the museums’ collections.

8. (slang, archaic) A pawnbroker's ticket.
   • 1862, W. H. Watts, My Private Note-Book; or, Recollections of an old reporter, page 123:

     " […] Pity we're not both same size, or I'd steal one of your shirts, for I buried the last of mine yesterday, and here's the tombstone," producing a pawnbroker's duplicate.

• through-stone

tombstone (third-person singular simple present tombstones, present participle tombstoning, simple past and past participle tombstoned)

1. (UK, intransitive) To take part in tombstoning: to jump into the sea, etc. from a cliff or other high point so as to enter the water vertically straight.
2. (surfing) For a surfboard to stand upright half-submerged in the water (like a tombstone, above) because the surfer is underwater with his or her legrope pulled tight. Often this indicates a surfer in difficulty, either held down by the power of a wave or unconscious and unable to get to the surface.
   • 2005, Bruce Jenkins, Surfer magazine, (referring to Kelly Slater) :

     Before the contest even started, Slater went down hard in a warmup session. He took a two-wave hold-down in the semifinals, his board tombstoning eerily for all to see,

3. (transitive, computing, Microsoft Windows) To replace (an object or data) with a tombstone marker.
   • 2000, William Boswell, Inside Windows 2000 Server, page 211:

     One of the many improvements in Windows 2000 WINS (and NT4 SP4) is the capability to selectively delete or tombstone records.

• (pawnbroker's ticket): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

• tombstone on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tombstone (programming) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia