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Metal   /mˈɛtəl/   Listen
noun
Metal  n.  
1.
(Chem.) An elementary substance, as sodium, calcium, or copper, whose oxide or hydroxide has basic rather than acid properties, as contrasted with the nonmetals, or metalloids. No sharp line can be drawn between the metals and nonmetals, and certain elements partake of both acid and basic qualities, as chromium, manganese, bismuth, etc. Note: Popularly, the name is applied to certain hard, fusible metals, as gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, zinc, nickel, etc., and also to the mixed metals, or metallic alloys, as brass, bronze, steel, bell metal, etc.
2.
Ore from which a metal is derived; so called by miners.
3.
A mine from which ores are taken. (Obs.) "Slaves... and persons condemned to metals."
4.
The substance of which anything is made; material; hence, constitutional disposition; character; temper. "Not till God make men of some other metal than earth."
5.
Courage; spirit; mettle. See Mettle. Note: The allusion is to the temper of the metal of a sword blade.
6.
The broken stone used in macadamizing roads and ballasting railroads.
7.
The effective power or caliber of guns carried by a vessel of war.
8.
Glass in a state of fusion.
9.
pl. The rails of a railroad. (Eng.)
Base metal (Chem.), any one of the metals, as iron, lead, etc., which are readily tarnished or oxidized, in contrast with the noble metals. In general, a metal of small value, as compared with gold or silver.
Fusible metal (Metal.), a very fusible alloy, usually consisting of bismuth with lead, tin, or cadmium.
Heavy metals (Chem.), the metallic elements not included in the groups of the alkalies, alkaline earths, or the earths; specifically, the heavy metals, as gold, mercury, platinum, lead, silver, etc.
Light metals (Chem.), the metallic elements of the alkali and alkaline earth groups, as sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, etc.; also, sometimes, the metals of the earths, as aluminium.
Muntz metal, an alloy for sheathing and other purposes, consisting of about sixty per cent of copper, and forty of zinc. Sometimes a little lead is added. It is named from the inventor.
Prince's metal (Old Chem.), an alloy resembling brass, consisting of three parts of copper to one of zinc; also called Prince Rupert's metal.


verb
Metal  v. t.  (past & past part. metaled or metalled; pres. part. metaling or metalling)  To cover with metal; as, to metal a ship's bottom; to metal a road.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Metal" Quotes from Famous Books



... under one roof,—a two-storied building in the lower part of Pearl Street, dingy and unattractive in outward appearance, but crowded in its interior with articles of beauty and worth,—Flemish paintings and rich metal work, Venetian glasses and velvets, Spanish and Moorish leather goods, silverware, watches, jewellery, etc. The window of the large room in which all was stored was dim with cobwebs, and there was no arrangement of the treasures. They were laid in the drawers of the great Dutch presses and in cabinets, ...
— The Bow of Orange Ribbon - A Romance of New York • Amelia E. Barr
... acquire all the store we can, rejecting no coin for its minting but only if its metal be base. So shall we bring out of our treasuries ...
— On the Art of Writing - Lectures delivered in the University of Cambridge 1913-1914 • Arthur Quiller-Couch
... of paltry paper!" said he. "I suppose it's the old sportsman's custom to get rid of most of his heavy metal ...
— Stingaree • E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung
... the river, piled up yon Organ-hill, produced the caves of Widderin, the great crater-hollow of Mirngish, and accommodated us with that brisk little earthquake which we felt just now. For you know that we mortals stand only on a thin crust of cooled matter, but beneath our feet is all molten metal." ...
— The Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn • Henry Kingsley
... the unmistakable pallid hue of death he thought at first that she slept. In the thin, delicate hands, crossed upon her bosom, there was placed, after the manner of those of her faith, a small metal crucifix. Her hair, silky and jet black, was short like a man's, and the exquisitely-modelled features, which even the coldness of death had not robbed of their beauty, showed the Spanish blood that, but a few hours before, had ...
— By Reef and Palm • Louis Becke


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