| 释义 |
▪ I. metal, n. (and a.)|ˈmɛt(ə)l|
Forms: 4 matalle, matel, metail(le, -tayl, 4–6 metel(l, 4–7 metall(e, 4–8 mettal, 5 metelle, mettaill, 6 meatall(e, metale, metle, mettel(l, 6–9 mettle, 7 mattell, 3– metal.
[a. OF. metal, metail (mod.F. métal), ad. L. metallum mine, quarry, substance obtained by mining, metal, ad. Gr. µέταλλον mine; app. related in some way to µεταλλᾶν to seek after, explore. The word has passed (directly or indirectly) from Latin into all the Rom. and Teut. langs.: cf. Pr. metalh, Sp., Pg. metal, It. metallo; G. metall, Du. metaal, Sw. metall, Da. metal.]
1. a. Any member of the class of substances represented by gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin. Originally this class was regarded as including only these bodies together with certain alloys (as brass and bronze), and hence as definable by their common properties, viz. high specific gravity and density, fusibility, malleability, opacity, and a peculiar lustre (known specifically as ‘metallic’). In process of time other substances were discovered to have most but not all of these properties; the class was thus gradually extended, the properties viewed as essential to its definition becoming fewer. From the point of view of modern Chemistry, the ‘metals’ are a division (including by far the greater number) of the ‘elements’ or simple substances. Among them are all the original (simple) ‘metals’; of the later additions to the list some possess all the properties formerly viewed as characteristic of a metal, while others possess hardly any of them; the ‘metallic lustre’ is perhaps the most constant. By some chemists the radical ammonium (NH4) and derivatives thereof have been designated as ‘metals’, on account of the analogy of their compounds with those of the metals potassium and sodium.
In popular language the term is not applied to a metallic element when in such a state of combination that its identity is disguised. (Cf. metallic a. 2.)
† noble metals or perfect metals: gold and silver, as being the only metals that were known to be capable of enduring any ordinary fire without being ‘destroyed’; opposed to base metals or imperfect metals.
a1300–1400Cursor M. 2298 (Gött.) Þai made ymagis of meteles sere. 1340Ayenb. 167 Be þise uirtue is strang þe man ase þet ysen þet alle metals a-daunteþ. 1474Caxton Chesse iii. ii, Vnto the goldsmythes behoueth golde and siluer and alle other metallys, yren and steel to other. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iii. i. 60 Is not Lead a mettall heauie, dull, and slow? 1661J. Childrey Brit. Bacon. 112, I should think Lead were the easiest of all metalls to melt. 1751J. Hill Mat. Med. 4 The Class of the Metals..includes only six Bodies, which are, 1. Gold. 2. Silver. 3. Copper. 4. Tin. 5. Iron. And 6. Lead... The Chemists have divided the Metals into two Classes, the perfect and the imperfect. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XI. 443/2 To free the noble metals from the stony matter which surrounds them, and to reduce the baser ones from their calciform to a metallic state. 1874Roscoe Elem. Chem. xiv. 142 The metals of the alkalies and alkaline earths. Ibid. xvii. 186 [Hydrogenium] has..been shown to conduct heat and electricity, and to be magnetic, in these respects acting as a metal.
b. The constituent matter of a metal or of metals collectively; metallic substance.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 144 Ire at gloucestre, Metal, as led and tyn, in þe contreie of eccestre. 13..K. Alis. 6242 Pilers of matel strong. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 169 Alle þe metail anamayld was þenne. c1440Jacob's Well 10 He made hym drynke reed brennying metal moltyn. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utop. i. (1895) 64 Them they condempned into ston quarris, and in to myenes to dygge mettalle. 1649Bp. Reynolds Serm. Hosea i. 12 The hammer breaks mettall, and the fire melts it. a1725Whitworth Acc. Russia (1758) 108 Every battalion having two long three pounders of mettle. 1820Combe Dr. Syntax, Consol. iv. 361 If they had nought but polished mettle, Or the bright cover of a kettle. 1880Expositor XI. 291 Like a mirror of polished metal.
c. As the material of arms and armour.
c1400Destr. Troy. 9520 Mallyng þurgh metall maynly with hondes,..knockyng þurgh helmys. c1470Henry Wallace v. 190 His suerd he drew of nobill metall keyne. 1595Shakes. John v. ii. 16 That I must draw this mettle from my side To be a widdow-maker. 1663Butler Hud. i. ii. 83 Both kinds of metal he prepar'd, Either to give blows or to ward. c1672Sir H. of Grime xxiii. in Child Ballads IV. 11/2 My sword, That is made of the mettle so fine.
d. pregnantly for: Precious metal, gold.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. i. 82 But sirrah, you shall buy this sport as deere, As all the mettall in your shop will answer. 1594― Rich. III, iv. iv. 382. 1596 ― Merch. V. i. iii. 135. 1601 ― Twel. N. ii. v. 17 Heere comes the little villaine: How now my Mettle of India?
e. spec. = cast-iron. (More fully cast-metal: see cast ppl. a. 8.)
Other specific uses (besides those referred to under 5) are current in particular trades: e.g. as applied to the fittings of pocket knives metal denotes brass as opposed to German silver.
1794[see cast ppl. a. 8]. 1862Catal. Internat. Exhib. No. 6057 Kitchener..the back and sides fitted with metal covings or plates. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1423/1 Metal, the workman's term for cast-iron.
f. fig. (In 16–17th c. often = the ‘stuff’ of which a man is made, with reference to character: cf. mettle.)
1552Latimer Serm. Lord's Prayer v. (1562) 34 b, What? (say they) they be made of such metall as we be made of. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iii. 47 Marcus, we are..No big-bon'd men,..But Mettall, Marcus, steele to the very backe. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. v. (Arb.) 161 Men doo chuse their subiects according to the mettal of their minds. 1642Rogers Naaman To Rdr. ii. iii, Then she shewes the metall she is made of. 1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. 310 Too full of Angels Metal in his Frame. 1687T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 73 A notable fellow of his inches, and metal to the back. 1887Athenæum 8 Oct. 461/3 Defoe wrought no base metal into the fine gold of his mother-tongue. 1895Harper's Weekly Feb. 340/2 It seems to me that there was lighter metal in the crews.
2. Her. Either of the tinctures or and argent.
c1450Holland Howlat 420 Signess..Off metallis and colouris in tentfull atyr. 1562Leigh Armory 1 There are nine soondrye fieldes, of the whiche, seuen of them be termed Colours, & two, Mettalles... The two metalles, are Goulde and siluer. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry ii. ii. 41 In Blazoning of any Armes, you must first express the Metall, Colour or Furre of the Field. 1625Markham Souldiers Accid. 31 Mettall may not be carried on mettall. a1659Cleveland On Sir T. Martin 24 Metal on Metal is false Heraldry. 1881A. MacGeorge Flags 109 The Dutch and Russian ensigns have the same tincture as those of the present French flag... The latter has the metal, the white, uppermost, and the two colours, the blue and the red..placed together below.
3. = ore (after Spanish).
1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. vi. 223 They say..that the metall lay above the ground the height of a launce, like unto rockes. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Metal, Sp. 1. This term is applied both to the ore and to the metal extracted from it.
†4. A mine; in phr. to condemn to metals [L. condemnare ad metalla]. Obs. rare—1.
1660Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. 1. Ep. Ded., As Slaves live, that is, such who are civilly dead, and persons condemn'd to metals.
5. With qualification (see below): A specific alloy of two or more metals used in an art or trade. Also used, without qualification, as short for any of these (see quots.).
Bath, Britannia, composition, Dutch, fusible, organ, pipe, plate, prince's, queen's, red, refined, type, white, yellow metal: see these words. Also bell-metal, gun-metal. A certain number of alloys are named after their inventors, as Aich's, Gedge's, Kier's, Muntz's, Newton's, Rose's, White's metal.
1729Extracts Burgh Rec. Stirling (1889) 205 One McLaren, who was..incarcerat in the tolbooth..for offering to sell hard mettle instead of silver to some people in this burgh. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic App. 711 Metal for Flute-key Valves 4 oz. lead and 2 oz. antimony. 1845Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 655/2 The tin is first converted into what is called hard metal or alloy, 75 parts copper and 25 parts tin. 1868Joynson Metals 97 The metal [is] run into pigs, in the state known technically as coarse metal, or more generally ‘regulus’. 1876J. Hiles Catech. Organ iv. (1878) 22 Metal is a technical name applied by Organ builders to a mixture of tin and lead, and generally should mean half tin, and half lead.
6. An object made of metal.
†a. A medal or coin. (Cf. metallic a. 6.) Obs.
1574Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1577) 21 Hence it proceedeth, that the true and moste auncient metalls be not of golde but of iron.
†b. A speculum or reflector of a telescope. Obs.
1693Lond. Gaz. No. 2909/4 Concave Metals, Concave Burning, and Reading Glasses, of all sizes. 1777Mudge in Phil. Trans. LXVII. 324 A very distinct and perfect two-foot metal.
c. pl. The rails of a railway, tramway, etc.
1841Ann. Reg. 119 He found the deceased lying on the road, between the ‘metals’. 1894Times 12 Jan. 11/6 The trunk of a tree over 50ft. long fell upon the metals, and the express..cut right through it.
d. Electr.
1881Sir W. Thomson in Nature No. 619. 435 Imagine a domestic servant going to dust an electric lamp with 80,000 volts on one of its metals.
7. Gunnery.
a. The metal composing the barrel of a gun. Also (= line of metal, quot. 1859) in phr. over metal, etc. (see quots. 1688, 1704).
1644Nye Gunnery (1670) 40 If the Piece lye point-blank, or under metall. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xi. 46 A Gunner ought..to proportion his Charge according to the thinnest side of the Metal. Ibid. xii. 68 The difference of Shooting by the Metal, and by a Dispert. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xviii. (Roxb.) 140/2 She lies ouer mettle, when the mouth is higher then the breech. She lies right with her mettle, that is she lies point blank, or streight. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn., Metal, a word frequently used about a Piece of Ordnance, or Great Gun: The Outside or Surface of her is called, the Superficies of her Metals: When the Mouth of a Great Gun lies lower than her Breech, they say, She lies under Metal. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 52 The Line of metal is an imaginary line drawn along the surface of the metal between the two sights.
b. The aggregate number, whole mass or effective power of the guns on a ship of war. heavy metal: see heavy a.1 6.
1757Chesterfield Lett. cccxx. (1792) IV. 91 They had eighteen [ships] and a greater weight of metal, according to the new sea phrase. 1762Falconer Shipwr. ii. 495 From the torn ship her metal must be thrown.
fig.1871R. W. B. Vaughan Life St. T. Aquin I. 773 He possessed all the qualities necessary for success—weight of metal, as well as precision of aim.
8. Material, matter, substance, esp. earthy matter.
c1570Durham Depos. (Surtees) 197 Two skepfull of sande; no other mettell, stone, clay, or rubbish. 1593Rites of Durham (Surtees 1903) 3 Cressetts of Earthen mettall. 1599Minsheu Sp. Dial. 12/2 With glasse, or China mettall, or earth. 1684T. Burnet Theory Earth ii. 46 Clayey soils, and such like, may by the strength of fire be converted into brick, or stone, or earthen metal. 1689Shadwell Bury F. ii. 19 There's a pair of Gloves of the same mettle.
9. The material used for making glass, in a molten state.
1589Pappe w. Hatchet D iv, A settled raigne is not like glasse mettal, to be blowne in..fashion of euerie mans breath. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys.-Mech. ix. 71 The Vessels..being made of much purer and clearer metall, as the Glass-men speak. 1845G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. iv. 49 The pots are full of ‘metal’ looking like liquid fire. 1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 132 One of the men rolls up on its end just enough ‘metal’ to make the bottle.
10. a. Hardened clay, shale.
1708J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 15 To keep the Earth, or some times soft Mettle, or Minerals,..from falling into the Pit. 1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 34 The azure [slates] are the best metal. 1808H. Holland Surv. Cheshire 28 The workmen distinguish the clay by the appellation of metal, giving it the name of red, brown, or blue metal, according to its colour. 1883Gresley Coal-mining Gloss., Metals, marl beds more or less indurated.
b. Sc. ‘All the rocks met with in mining ore’ (Raymond Mining Gloss. 1881).
1807J. Headrick Arran 78 This must be a trouble in the metals, not a vein.
11. Broken stone used in macadamizing roads or as ballast for a railway. Also road metal.
1782in Sc. Nat. Dict. (1965) VI. 259/3 The mettle for the road is not to be got but at the south end of the road. 1815T. Telford Life T. Telford (1838) 483 The metal to be of the best blue or red whin. 1838Civ. Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 275/1 The quantity of the metal deposited would have formed, on ordinary ground, an embankment twenty-four or twenty-five feet high. 1845Atkinson in Proc. Berw. Nat. Cl. II. No. 13. 132 The roads of Hutton..with their wayside heaps of greenstone ‘metal’. 1879Lubbock Addr. Pol. & Educ. ix. 155 The Sarsen stone is unsurpassed for road metal. c1906P. C. Cowan Making & Maintenance Roads 17 The old macadam surface was first carefully levelled up and solidly rolled with any necessary amount of new metal. 1970N.Z. Listener 21 Sept. 14/3 The lush pastures gave way to upland scrub country; the road metal became pumice and then clay merely.
†12. (See quot.) Obs.
1611Florio Souátta, a strap or leather of a whip, our boyes call it mettall.
13. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib., as † metal-matter, † metal-ore, metal-yield. This passes into an adj. = ‘consisting or made of metal’.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 67 It is a knowen þing þat hillis holden stoones and metal-oor. 1612Sturtevant (title) Metallica,..comprehending the doctrine of diverse new Metallical Inventions, but especially how to..work all kinde of mettle-oares. Ibid. 107 Mettle matter [see metallar]. 1636James Iter Lanc. (Chetham Soc.) 236 This faire cleere springe which courses through y⊇ hills Conveys summe mettall tincture in hir rills. 1724Lond. Gaz. No. 6260/3 A..Coat, with..white Mettal Buttons. 1845P. Barlow in Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 489/1 Enamels, as before stated, are usually laid upon a metal ground. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Pegged boots, boots with wooden pegs in the soles, instead of metal nails or brads. 1877Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 284 The total metal-yield for that year amounted to $5,362,383. 1879McCarthy Own Times II. xxvii. 317 The intensity of the cold was so great that no one might dare to touch any metal substance in the open air.
b. objective and obj. gen., as metal-broker, metal-detector, metal-grinder, metal-melter, metal-mining, † metal-monger, † metal-monging, metal-roller, metal-turner, metal-worker, metal-working; metal-bearing, metal-clattering, metal-cutting, metal-using adjs.c. parasynthetic and instrumental, as metal-bound, metal-bushed, metal-clad, metal-clasped, metal-faced, metal-lined, metal-lustred, metal-rimmed, metal-sheathed, metal-studded adjs.d. similative, as metal-blue, metal-cold adjs.
1882Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 12 Where there has been no *metal-bearing ore to defray expenses, assessments have been levied.
1930Blunden Poems 309 The *metal-blue cucumber slices.
1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 200 The long *metal-bound guns without one of which an Albanian rarely moves.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Metal-broker, a dealer in metals or minerals.
1883Man. Seamanship for Boys' Training Ships R. Navy (Admiralty) (1886) 14 Spindle..passes through a *metal bushed hole in the partners, up through the centre of the barrel.
1926Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin. (B.S.I.) 87 *Metal-clad, a qualifying term applied to apparatus to denote that the conducting parts are entirely enclosed in a metal casing. 1931Flight 22 May 461/1 So gradually..the general theory of the metalclad airship was mathematically and experimentally proved. 1956Proc. Inst. Electr. Engin. CIII. A. 82/1 When closing a metalclad switch I have observed..sparks jumping from one metal part to another.
1899Kipling, Stalky 203 A red-bound *metal-clasped book.
1932D. Gascoyne Roman Balcony 12 A *metal-clattering cavalcade Advanced Across the beach.
1918D. H. Lawrence New Poems 47 Is it all nought? Cold, *metal-cold?
1934Webster, *Metal-cutting adj. 1961Times 29 Dec. 12/4 Metalcutting machines.
1971B. St. J. Wilkes Nautical Archaeol. vi. 120 *Metal detectors are sold quite extensively in the US and Canada to amateur ‘prospectors’ to aid their hunt for gold. 1975Guardian 1 Oct. 2/1 Chicago police will be using hand-held metal detectors on all crowds who come near President Ford.
1934Archit. Rev. LXXV. 34/1 There are various *metal-faced papers on the market. 1967Jane's Surface Skimmer Systems 1967–68 60/2 The float table's conveying surface is of metal-faced plywood construction.
1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 253 The pulmonary fibrosis of *metal-grinders, of stone-workers, of potters.
1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 254 *Metal-lined cases are used as portable magazines.
1862G. M. Hopkins Vision of Mermaids (1929), Others small braids enclustered Of glassy-clear Aeolis, *metal-lustred With growths of myriad feelers.
1626Jackson Creed viii. xxvii. §2 Cast them into the furnace, or to the *metal-melter.
1855J. R. L[eifchild] Cornwall Mines 284 The great advantage..of *metal-mining over coal-mining is [etc.].
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 283 They dig the ground like greedie *metal mongers.
1631J. Done Polydoron 85 A *Metall-monging Alchimist is but a hors-keeper to a Coyner however he curries his tromperie.
1932C. Isherwood Memorial i. iii. 36 Eric's tall bony figure, with his *metal-rimmed glasses and the odd pauses in his speech.
1900B'ham Weekly Post 4 Aug. 16/3 *Metal-rollers not only worked themselves, but had men under them.
1909Q. Rev. Jan. 148 Motor-cars,..having armoured or *metal-studded tires damage the surface.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Metal-turner. 1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 24 Knife-grinders, metal-turners, and needle-pointers.
1928C. Dawson Age of Gods iii. 50 What we term the neolithic age in Europe was really the first stage in the diffusion of the higher *metal-using culture of the Near East. 1964T. L. Kinsey Audio-Typing & Electr. Typewriters vii. 77 A large proportion of the remainder are at work in the engineering and other metal-using industries.
1860Piesse Lab. Chem. Wonders 69 *Metal-workers find it of great service.
1882Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 598 *Metal-working tools, that is, tools for cold processes, such as turning, planing [etc.].
14. Special comb.: metal age Archæol., the period or stage of development in the human race in which copper and bronze were used for making weapons and tools; metal arc welding, arc welding in which the melting of a metal electrode provides the joining material; metal bath, a bath (of mercury, lead, fusible alloys, etc.) used in chemical operations requiring a higher temperature than can be produced by means of a water bath; metal bed, the bed of ‘metal’ or broken stone laid down in the process of macadamizing a road; metal carrier (see quot.); metal drift, ‘a heading driven in stone’ (Gresley Coal-mining Gloss. 1883); metal-edge Coal-mining (see quot.); metal fatigue, fatigue (sense 1 b,) of metal; metal gauge, a gauge for determining the thickness of sheet-metal (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); † metal ȝeter, one who casts metal, a founder; metal leaf, a name commonly applied to the Dutch leaf to distinguish it from gold-leaf (Ure's Dict. Arts 1875); metal maw, a stomach strong enough to digest anything; metal Mike Naut. colloq. (see quot. 1961); metal paper (see quot.); † metal pit, a mine containing metal; metal polish, a polish used for brightening metals; metal proof, ? bullet-proof; metal rectifier Electr., a rectifier in which rectification takes place at the junction of a metal and another solid substance (such as copper oxide or selenium); metal ridge, rig Coal-mining (see quots.); † metal smith, one who forges metal, a metal-worker; metal stone, † (a) the ore of a metal; (b) (see quot. 1851); metal thread, yarn = metallic thread, yarn (metallic a. 1 f); metal-to-metal a., used of a contact or connection; metal value, value (of coin) considered merely as metal; metal-visaged a., having a hard immobile countenance; metal-work, work, esp. artistic work, in metal; metal-works, a factory where metal is produced.
1927Peake & Fleure Hunters & Artists vii. 112 The dawn of the *Metal Age. 1951Proc. Prehist. Soc. XVII. 1 The beginnings of a Metal Age in the Middle East are known to go back before the earliest written documents. 1963H. N. Savory in Foster & Alcock Culture & Environment iii. 33 We can no longer think of a Secondary Neolithic element in south Wales as something introduced only a short while before the dawn of the Metal Age.
1926Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. CXIV. 611 *Metal arc welding can also be used for this purpose. 1952Fuchs & Bradley Welding Pract. II. v. 107 One of the characteristic features of metal arc welding..is the highly localised intensity of heat input. 1968J. Giachino et al. Welding Technol. iv. 70 Gas metal-arc welding was considered a high current density, small diameter filler wire process.
1861Smiles Engineers II. 429 He specified that the *metal bed was to be formed in two layers.
1892Labour Commission Gloss., *Metal Carriers, those who take the pig-iron out of the troughs of sand into which it has been placed to cool, and stack it on the trucks used in conveying it away for sale.
1845Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 215/1 In the third stage, the crack is completed, and the edges assume a sharp distinct form called *metal edges.
1954This Week's Listening 30 Dec. 18 No Highway is about *metal fatigue, which one of the characters describes as ‘a disease of the metal’. 1958Economist 11 Oct. 169/2 The Comet should, by rights, have been in service on the North Atlantic four years ago: the lapse of time is a measure of the work needed to stiffen its skin against metal fatigue that sent two of the original Comets in quick succession to the bottom of the Mediterranean. 1973P. Dickinson Green Gene ix. 180 It's like metal fatigue. You stand the stresses OK for years, so you think you'll stand them for ever. Then you snap, under no load at all.
13..K. Alis. 6735 A queynte mon, a *metal geoter, That couthe caste in alle thyng.
1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 92 It is not to bee doubted but the *mettall-mawes of those Ostriges could also digest the other.
1929Yachting June 41/2 While in the act of setting ‘Metal Mike’ on the new course, we sighted a small ship's boat a point on the starboard bow. 1961F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 145 Metal Mike, the ‘automatic helmsman’.
1901J. Black's Carp. & Build., Home Handicr. 39 If the paste is not to be used for gilt papers (sometimes called ‘*metal’ or ‘gold’ papers), add 2 oz. of powdered alum.
a1603T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) 656 He is verily worthy to be condemned to dig in the *mettall pits.
1927Wireless World 30 Nov. 733/1 (heading) Battery charging rectifier incorporating the new dry ‘*metal’ rectifier. 1971B. Scharf Engin. & its Lang. xx. 276 Three important types of rectifier are diode rectifiers, mercury arc rectifiers and metal rectifiers.
1851Greenwell Coaltrade Terms, Northumbld. & Durham 36 *Metal Ridge. 1883Gresley Coal-mining Gloss., Metal ridges, pillars forming themselves into supports to the roof, formed by the creep in the boards.
1860Eng. & For. Min. Gloss., Newc. Terms, *Metal rig, the strata forced up by a creep.
1382Wyclif Isa. xli. 7 The *metal smyth [1388 A smyth of metal; L. faber ærarius] smytende hym with an hamer.
1612S. Sturtevant Metallica 35 Prepared or roasted oares, Mine-stones, or *Mettle-stones beeing the fitt matter of Metallique liquours. 1851Greenwell Coal-trade Terms, Northumbld. & Durh. 36 Metal stone, a mixture of shale with sandstone.
1959Times 28 Apr. 20/6 A Chinese silk and *metal-thread carpet. 1967E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage ii. 49 Gold and silver threads couched by hand, or synthetic metal threads (Lurex) used on the machine.
1906*Metal-to-metal [see leather-faced adj. s.v. leather n. 5 c]. 1910Daily Chron. 2 Feb. 5/1 The surface where the wheel had been on the axle showing a bright metal-to-metal contact. 1922Encycl. Brit. XXX. 36/2 The head of steel being secured to the liner with a plain metal-to-metal joint by bolts from the head to the crank-case. 1971Flying Apr. 5/1 Aluminium honeycomb panel construction and metal-to-metal bonding.
1901Munsey's Mag. (U.S.) XXIV. 772/1 A deposit of coins was found on Richmond's Island, near Portland, Maine, which, though of the *metal value of only a hundred dollars, was of great interest because [etc.].
1837Dickens Pickw. xlviii, Even the *metal-visaged Mr. Martin condescended to smile.
1850Parker's Gloss. Archit. (ed. 5) I. 302 *Metal-work. 1872Yeats Growth Comm. 52 [Corinth] being especially celebrated for metal-work and porcelain.
1908Westm. Gaz. 3 Oct. 10/1 On the hours of work in foundries and *metal-works generally the Committee felt itself still imperfectly informed.
1913J. M. Matthews Textile Fibres (ed. 3) i. 12 Bayko *metal yarn is a textile product recently introduced.
(metal detector: formerly at sense 13b in Dict.) Add: [1.] g. ellipt. for heavy metal s.v. heavy a.1 (n.) 20 d. Freq. attrib., or as the second element in Combs. denoting types of music which incorporate aspects of heavy metal.
1975‘L. Reed’ (title of record) Metal machine music. 1980N.Y. Times 19 Dec. c19/3 The definitive album of postpunk rock and the year's most compelling slice of metal machine music. 1984Sounds 29 Dec. 14/2 You must have metal madmen. 1986Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 28 Aug. (Blitz Suppl.) 3/3, I like to take a break from metal, I don't always listen to it. 1987Guardian 20 Mar. 19/2 Punk and metal are mingling into a hybrid variously called ‘speed’, ‘thrash’ or even ‘death’ metal. 1989Q Dec. 110/3 By side two's live bonanza.., the onus is back on crunching power-trio metal. 1994Hypno i. 20/2 They can do all the Sex Pistols' covers they want, but they are still just a lame-o metal band.
[14.] metal-detecting n., the practice of searching for buried metallic objects by means of a metal detector.
1977Treasure Hunting I. 44/1 The Shrewbury and District *Metal Detecting Club. 1986Rescue News Summer 6 (heading) The National Council for Metal Detecting. 1992Jrnl. (Milwaukee) 25 July g4/1 (Advt.), Joshua..is an honor student and a member of the softball and track teams. He enjoys drawing, movies and metal detecting.
metal detector, any of various electronic devices that detect and signal the presence of metallic objects from their magnetic effects; spec. (a) a hand-held or walk-through security apparatus for identifying concealed weapons, etc.; (b) a portable device for locating buried metal objects.
1946Wireless World Dec. 402/1 (caption) ‘Cintel’ *metal detector, an adaptation of the wartime mine detector produced by Cinema-Television Ltd... It is claimed to locate accurately..pipes, etc. buried..below the surface. 1971B. St. J. Wilkes Nautical Archaeol. vi. 120 Metal detectors are sold quite extensively in the US and Canada to amateur ‘prospectors’ to aid their hunt for gold. 1975Guardian 1 Oct. 2/1 Chicago police will be using hand-held metal detectors on all crowds who come near President Ford. 1984D. Lodge Small World ii. i. 103 He passes through the electronic metal detector, first handing over his spectacle case, which he knows from experience will activate the device,..and proceeds to the waiting lounge by Gate 5. 1991Treasure Hunting Oct. 51, I moved forward a few paces, switched on my metal detector and started swinging it in an arc before me. At first there was..just background hum of ironisation in the soil.
So metal detectorist, a person who engages in metal-detecting.
1987Sunday Tel. 29 Nov. 11/1 David Loriboad..wrote the article entirely from the archaeological point of view and scarcely made any reference to the metal detectorists' case. 1989Independent 1 July 1 About 55 per cent of Britain's foreshore is owned by the Crown, including the spot where metal detectorist Ken Willcox found the mount in September 1987. 1994Kent Archaeological Rev. Spring 105 A great deal of Romano-British building material was observed on the surface. (This had been observed as well by members of a metal detectorist club.)
▪ II. metal, v.
[f. metal n.]
1. trans. To furnish or fit with metal.
1617Capt. Pepwell in Lett. E. Ind. Comp. (1901) V. 155 The muskets are generally naught, being not well metalled. 1876Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 230 Where the pipes run side by side with gas-pipes, it is desirable to metal the joints.
†2. To provide the ‘metal’ or material of. Obs.
1610Heywood Gold. Age iii. i. Wks. 1874 III. 38 Oh you crownes, Why are you made, and mettald out of cares?
3. To make or mend (a road) with ‘metal’.
1806Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 269 [The stone] is soft, and..has been found totally unfit for metalling roads. 1890Spectator 6 Sept., Roads..so well metalled with granite that they are hardly ever dusty. |