metaln.adj.
/ˈmɛtl/, U.S. /ˈmɛd(ə)l/ A. n.† III. Other uses.
I. Senses relating to metallic substances.† 4. In plural. A mine as a place of punishment. Obsolete. rare.
1. † c. Metallic ore. Obsolete.
a. Usually as a mass noun. Hard, shiny, malleable material of the kind originally represented by gold, silver, copper, etc. (see sense A. 1b), esp. as used in the manufacture of objects, artefacts, and utensils.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > [noun]
ore?c1225
metalc1230
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > [noun] > metallic substance
metalc1230
metallic1563
metallar1612
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 83 Beo neauer se briht or. Metal. gold. seoluer. Irn. stel. þet hit ne schal drahe rust of an oþer þet is irustet.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 144 Ire at gloucestre, Metal, as led and tyn, in þe contreie of eccestre.
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 6232 Pylers of metal stronge.
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 169 Alle þe metail anamayld was þenne.
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 10 He made hym drynke reed brennying metal moltyn.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) v. l. 190 His suerd he drew of nobill metall keyne.
1503 Act 19 Hen. VII c. 6 The said Persons..mix good Metal and bad together, and make it naught.
1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia i. sig. Dv Them they condempned into ston quarris, and in to myenes to dygge mettalle.
1605 T. Tymme tr. J. Du Chesne Pract. Chymicall & Hermeticall Physicke ii. i. 105 Metall is nothing else but a certaine fusil salt.
1649 E. Reynolds Israels Prayer (new ed.) i. 12 The hammer breaks mettall, and the fire melts it.
c1672 Sir H. of Grime xxiii, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1890) IV. vii. 11/2 My sword, That is made of the mettle so fine.
a1725 Ld. Whitworth Acct. Russia in 1710 (1758) 108 Every battalion having two long three pounders of mettle.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue at Mohair The buttons of military men being always of metal.
1820 W. Combe Second Tour Dr. Syntax xxx. 157 If they had nought but polish'd mettle, Or the bright cover of a kettle.
1880 Expositor 11 291 Like a mirror of polished metal.
1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xli. 764 When a sufficient quantity of metal has accumulated, it is drawn off and run into channels and moulds.
1963 R. R. A. Higham Handbk. Papermaking 211 The arrangement of the bowls in the stack is such that the top and bottom rolls are of metal and the others of fabric and metal alternately.
1999 Oxoniensia 63 160 A spiral pennanular ring of wire of oval section, decorated on the outside with small cubes of metal separated by zones of transverse hatching.
b. As a count noun. Any of a class of substances, originally comprising gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, and alloys such as bronze and brass, that share the properties of high density, malleability, ductility, opacity, good conduction of heat and electricity, and a characteristic lustre. Later also (esp. in Chemistry): any of a large class of chemical elements that typically have these properties and that form simple positive ions and basic oxides.In non-scientific language the term is not applied to a metallic element when in a state in which its identity is disguised (e.g. iron in foodstuffs). Cf. metallic adj. 4.base, imperfect, noble, perfect metal: see the first element.
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the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > [noun]
metal1340
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 167 Be þise uirtue is strang þe man ase þet ysen þet alle metals a-daunteþ.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) 2298 Þai made ymagis of meteles sere.
1474 W. Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) iii. ii. 86 Vnto the goldsmythes behoueth gold & siluer And alle other metallys, yren & steel to other.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iii. i. 57 Is not Lead a mettal heauie, dull, and slow? View more context for this quotation
1660 J. Childrey Britannia Baconica 112 I should think Lead were the easiest of all metalls to melt.
1751 J. Hill Hist. Materia Medica 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.
1797 Encycl. Brit. 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.
1866 H. E. Roscoe Lessons Elem. Chem. xvii. 186 [Hydrogenium] has..been shown to conduct heat and electricity, and to be magnetic, in these respects acting as a metal.
1889 G. M. Hopkins Exper. Sci. xviii. 465 Bismuth, antimony, and several other metals will arrange themselves across the line of the poles.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 105/2 Casting statues in bronze and other metals.
1940 G. H. J. Adlam & L. S. Price Higher School Certificate Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xxx. 248 The salts of all three metals colour the bunsen flame—calcium brick-red, strontium crimson, and barium green.
1978 H. M. Rosenberg Solid State (ed. 2) i. 15 In a metal the outer electrons of an atom are able to escape from that atom quite easily.
1999 Financial Times 1 Nov. 25/7 Using the web, traders can already buy and sell sugar, coffee, tea, livestock and metals on a variety of ‘virtual exchanges’.
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the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun]
oreOE
metala1387
minea1425
mineralc1500
vein1601
spelter1661
ram1683
virgin ore1758
rock1830
manganomelane1934
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) 399 Valeys bryngeþ forþ food, and hilles metal riȝt good.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) vii. 2681 (MED) Dyuers myneres, of metallis ful habounde.
a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1926) I. 58 This element of erd..has within jt..all kynd..of metall, stanys, colis.
c1540 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. (1821) I. 251 To win mettellis, querellis and to mak tild.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies iv. vi. 223 They say..that the metall lay above the ground the height of a launce, like vnto rockes.
1609 Hilderstoun Silver Mines I. f. 104v, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Met(t)al(l Sax great cuddeis that caryis the metell betuix driftis.
1672 G. Sinclair Hydrostaticks 260 Metalls.
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 155 Metal, Sp., 1. This term is applied both to the ore and to the metal extracted from it.
d. A specific alloy used in a craft or trade. Frequently with preceding modifying adjective or noun, or with the inventor's name.Also Bath-, Britannia-, composition-, Dutch metal, etc.: see the first element; Aich's metal n., bell-metal n., gunmetal n., etc.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > alloy > [noun]
layc1480
metal1541
loy1598
mixed metal1617
alloy1689
allay1796
intermetallic1956
1541 Act 33 Hen. VIII c. 7 §1 No person..should..conuey anie brasse..laten, bell metall, gun metall, ne shroffe metal into..partes beyonde the sea.
1729 in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Stirling (1889) II. 205 One McLaren, who was..incarcerat in the tolbooth..for offering to sell hard mettle instead of silver to some people in this burgh.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic App. 711 Metal for Flute-key Valves 4 oz. lead and 2 oz. antimony.
1845 Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 655/2 The tin is first converted into what is called hard metal or alloy, 75 parts copper and 25 parts tin.
1868 F. H. Joynson Metals in Constr. 97 The metal [is] run into pigs, in the state known technically as coarse metal, or more generally ‘regulus’.
1876 J. Hiles Catech. Organ (1878) iv. 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.
1906 N.E.D. (at cited word) Other specific uses..are current in particular trades: e.g. as applied to the fittings of pocket knives metal denotes brass as opposed to German silver.
1920 A. H. Fay Gloss. Mining & Mineral Industry 429/2 Metal, 8, copper regulus or matte obtained in the English process. The following varieties are distinguished by appearance and by their percentage of copper..: Coarse, 20 to 40; red, 48; blue, 60; sparkle, 74; white, 77; pimple, 79. Fine metal includes the latter four varieties. Hard metal is impure copper containing a large amount of tin.
1946 V. N. Wood Metall. Materials xi. (Plate XXX.) A second layer is deposited before the flux or the first weld metal, half-filling the vee, has solidified.
1987 B. Leatham-Jones Elements Industr. Robotics i. 16 Filler metal is usually continuously fed by motorised reels or drums.
e. Originally used as a synecdoche by Shakespeare: precious metal, esp. gold. rare after 17th cent.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > precious metal > [noun] > gold
goldeOE
reda1393
metal1600
solar metala1657
shining clay1668
yellow1858
1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. iii. 132 When did friendship take A breede for barraine mettaile of his friend? View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) ii. v. 12 Heere comes the little villaine: How now my Mettle of India? View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iv. i. 82 But sirrah, you shall buy this sport as deere, As all the mettall in your shop will answer. View more context for this quotation
1943 W. Lewis Let. 26 Jan. (1963) 343 This war..should have demonstrated that ‘the metal’ as the City boys call it is anything but indispensable.
f. Cast iron, esp. of a pure kind. Also in cast metal. Now rare.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > iron > [noun] > type of iron > cast iron
font1578
yetling iron1578
cast iron1665
iron foundry1686
yetling1769
metal1858
1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship I. 154 Sheaves are made of cast metal.
1858 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 19 Feb. 211/1 The product of the refinery process known as ‘metal’, might, in fact, be regarded as the purest kind of cast iron.
1862 Internat. Exhib.: Illustr. Catal. Industr. Dept. II. xxxi. §6057 Kitchener..the back and sides fitted with metal covings or plates.
1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. (at cited word) It's not iron, sir, it's nowt but a owd piece of metal.
1920 A. H. Fay Gloss. Mining & Mineral Industry 429/2 Metal, 4, cast iron, more particularly while melted.
1971 W. K. V. Gale Iron & Steel Industry: Dict. Terms Refined iron..(plate metal) (finer's metal) (metal) (fine metal), a low-silicon, low-carbon, white cast iron specially prepared in the refinery for use in the dry puddling process.
g. Astronomy. In a star or its spectrum: any chemical element other than helium or hydrogen. Frequently attributive, esp. in metal abundance.
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1973 M. Harwitt Astrophysical Concepts i. 24 This low..metal abundance—in this context the word ‘metal’ denotes any atom heavier than helium—is a real puzzle.
1975 Nature 18 Sept. 184/3 As any galaxy ages, the proportion of metals (by which astronomers mean anything except hydrogen and helium) in its stars increases through nucleosynthesis.
1987 C. Jaschek & M. Jaschek Classification Stars i. 22 Stellar interior specialists use ‘metals’ to designate any element other than hydrogen and helium, and in consequence ‘metal abundance’ implies all elements other than the first two. For spectroscopists this is very misleading, because they use the word in the chemical sense. On the other hand photometrists, who observe combined effects of all lines (i.e. without distinguishing the different elements) often use this word (metal abundance), in which case it may also include the effect of the hydrogen lines.
1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 236/2 There are some galaxies..that show incredibly strong star formation activity but have metal abundances so low as to suggest that they are perhaps now experiencing their first burst.
2. An object made of metal.† a. A weapon, arms, or armour made of metal. Obsolete.† b. A medal; a coin. Cf. metallic history n. at metallic adj. and n. Compounds 2. Obsolete.† c. A metal mirror of an astronomical reflecting telescope. Obsolete.† e. A conducting part of an early electric lamp. Obsolete.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > [noun] > a particular species of weapon > metal
metalc1400
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 1513 (MED) Þer watz rynging on ryȝt of ryche metalles, Quen renkkes..rennen hit to cache.
R. Misyn tr. R. Rolle Fire of Love 95 (MED) To ȝeild hym loueyngis with honily swetnes and cry of metell & with desire.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 9520 Mallyng þurgh metall maynly with hondes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) v. ii. 16 That I must draw this mettle from my side To be a widdow-maker. View more context for this quotation
1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. ii. 77 Both kinds of mettle he prepar'd, Either to give blows, or to ward.
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society > communication > record > memorial or monument > medal > [noun]
metal1485
medal1589
stamp1594
medallion1658
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > [noun] > a coin
minteOE
minteOE
crossc1330
coinc1386
cross and (or) pilea1393
penny1394
croucha1420
penny1427
piece1472
metal1485
piecec1540
stamp1594
quinyie1596
cross and pilea1625
numm1694
ducat1794
bean1811
dog1811
chinker1834
rock1837
pocket-burner1848
spondulicks1857
scale1872
chip1879
ridge1935
1485 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) II. 174/2 Greit quantities of fals counterfatit money..in sic forme of mettale þat it is vnpossibłe to decerne and knaw þe trew fra þe fals.
1500 Charter Edinb. Reg. House No. 633 In gude and fyne golde vsuale monie of Scotland and lakker metale.
1574 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. 21 Hence it proceedeth that the true and moste auncient metalls be not of golde but of Iron.
1650 in W. Stevenson Presbyterie Bk. Kirkcaldie (1900) 359 Alexander Moncrief had rounged his coyne and mixed his mettell.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > mirror > [noun] > speculum
object-speculum1672
metal1693
speculum1704
mirror1762
reflector1815
1693 London Gaz. No. 2909/4 Concave Metals, Concave Burning, and Reading Glasses, of all sizes.
1777 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 67 324 A very distinct and perfect two-foot metal.
d. In plural. The rails of a railway or tramway.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road laid with parallel planks, slabs, or rails > [noun] > laid with rails > rail > set or line of
line1825
railing1825
metal1842
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > track > rail or rails
rail1789
metal1894
1842 Ann. Reg. 1841 ii. Chron. 119/2 He found the deceased lying in the road between the ‘metals’.
1894 Times 12 Jan. 11/6 The trunk of a tree over 50ft. long fell upon the metals, and the express..cut right through it.
1926 T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (subscribers' ed.) xxxiii. 163 About their crests ran narrow veins of granite-coloured stone,..following the contour of the skyline like the rusted metals of an abandoned scenic railway.
1973 Railway Mag. Mar. 125/2 The design was also provisionally accepted by the GER over whose metals access was gained to Fenchurch Street.
ΚΠ
1881 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.
3. Heraldry. Either of the tinctures or and argent.
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society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > heraldic tincture > [noun] > metal
metala1525
a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 420 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 108 Signess..Off metallis and colouris in tentfull atyre.
1562 G. Legh Accedens of 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.
1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie ii. ii. 41 In Blazoning of any Armes, you must first express the Metall, Colour or Furre of the Field.
1625 G. Markham Souldiers Accidence 31 Mettall may not be carried on mettall.
a1658 J. Cleveland Upon Sir T. Martin in Wks. (1687) 56 Metal on Metal is false Heraldry.
1725 J. Coats New Dict. Heraldry (rev. ed.) Pearl sb.1, being White, is us'd instead of Argent, by those who blazon the Arms of Great Men by Precious Stones instead of Colours and Metals.
1780 J. Edmondson Compl. Body Heraldry II. Gloss. at Rempli When a chief is filled with any other metal, or colour, leaving only a border round the chief of the first, it is then called a Chief Rempli.
1881 A. 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.
1950 C. W. Scott-Giles Boutell's Heraldry (rev. ed.) xiii. 156 Mantlings are now of a colour lined with a metal, and unless otherwise blazoned they follow the same rule as the torse, ie. they are of the principal colour and metal as the arms.
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1590 A. Prowse tr. J. Taffin Of Markes Children of God viii. f. 66 There were 30000. put to death, and as manie or more chained and carried to the mettalls, a torment resembling..the punishment of the gallies at this day.
1660 Bp. J. Taylor Ductor Dubitantium Ep. Ded. sig. A3v As Slaves live, that is, such who are civilly dead, and persons condemn'd to metalls.
5. Gunnery.† a. The metal forming the barrel of a gun; line of metal n. a gunner's line of sight (see quot. 1859). over metal: with the breech lower than the mouth; under metal: with the mouth lower than or level with the breech; within the metal: (probably) within range (see quot. 1591). Obsolete.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > production and development of arms > [noun] > manufacture of firearms and ammunition > materials
metal1591
skelp1811
stub-twist1843
coil1859
gun-iron1881
1591 T. Digges L. Digges's Geom. Pract. Treatize: Pantometria (rev. ed.) 177 A marke is said to lye within the metall of the Peece, when the Peece beeing directed not by the Axis of the Soule, but by the Cornice or vpmost ring of her head and Coyle is able to reach the marke.
1647 N. Nye Art of Gunnery i. 40 If the Piece lye point-blanck, or under mettal.
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. xi. 46 A Gunner ought..to proportion his Charge according to the thinnest side of the Metal.
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. xii. 68 The difference of Shooting by the Metal, and by a Dispert.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory (1905) iii. xviii. 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.
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I 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.
1778 W. Whiting Let. 16 Nov. in E. G. Lengel Papers G. Washington (Revolutionary War Series) (2008) XVIII. 256 The heaviest Metal that has been Cast at this Furnace is an Eighteen pounder proper for a Ship Cannon.
1859 F. A. Griffiths Artillerist's Man. (1862) 52 The Line of metal is an imaginary line drawn along the surface of the metal between the two sights.
b. The guns or firepower of a warship, etc. Chiefly in weight of metal. Also figurative.heavy metal: see heavy adj.1 6.
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society > armed hostility > hostilities at sea > naval weapons and equipment > [noun] > ship's guns collectively
armament1668
metal1751
tooth1806
1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle III. lxxxv. 50 He was sunk By death's superior weight of metal.
1757 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 30 Sept. (1932) (modernized text) V. 2246 They had eighteen [ships] and a greater weight of metal, according to the new sea phrase.
1764 W. Falconer Shipwreck (new ed.) ii. 65 From the torn ship her metal must be thrown.
1834 T. A. C. Jones in Rep. 23rd U.S. Congr. 2 Sess. House (1835) No. 141. 34 The brilliant success of our frigates mounting 24-pounders, over those of our late enemy mounting 18-pounders, has been the most fruitful cause of this error, by attributing those gallant achievements to the mere difference of metal; that is, to the difference between the effects of an 18 and 24-pound ball.
1871 R. B. Vaughan St. Thomas of Aquin I. 773 He possessed all the qualities necessary for success—weight of metal, as well as precision of aim.
1940 E. Pound Cantos LII–LXXI lxii. 106 You never send me Accounts e.g. of guns, numbers, their weight of metal.
1986 T. Mo Insular Possession xxiii. 296 Her decks full of men and bearing treble the weight of metal in her broadside of any Chinese revenue-cruiser.
6. Music. = heavy metal at heavy adj.1 2c.Now frequently as the second element in compounds denoting types of music which incorporate aspects of heavy metal.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > pop music > [noun] > heavy metal
heavy metal1973
HM1974
metal1984
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > pop music > [noun] > heavy metal > types of
black metal1982
thrash1982
death metal1984
metal1984
thrash metal1984
1984 Sounds 29 Dec. 14/2 You must have metal madmen.
1986 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 28 Aug. (Blitz Suppl.) 3/3 I like to take a break from metal, I don't always listen to it.
1987 Guardian 20 Mar. 19/2 Punk and metal are mingling into a hybrid variously called ‘speed’, ‘thrash’ or even ‘death’ metal.
1994 Hypno i. 20/2 They can do all the Sex Pistols' covers they want, but they are still just a lame-o metal band.
II. Senses relating to non-metallic substances.† 7. Material, matter, substance, fabric; esp. clay or earthen material. Cf. China metal n. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > [noun]
stuffc1440
materialc1475
material1509
graith1513
subject matter1535
metalc1550
staple1598
tew1616
subjected matter1645
materiable1652
matter1680
ingredient1691
vehicle1837
input1893
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > earth > [noun] > earthy matter
metalc1550
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) i. 15 Ane pottar vil mak of ane masse of mettal, diuerse pottis, of defferent fassons.
c1570 in J. Raine Depositions Courts Durham (1847) 197 Two skepfull of sande; no other mettell, stone, clay, or rubbish.
1593 Rites of Durham (1903) 3 Cressetts of Earthen mettall.
1689 T. Shadwell Bury-Fair ii. 19 There's a pair of Gloves of the same mettle.
1690 T. Burnet Theory of Earth iii. vi. 46 Clayey Soils..may by the strength of fire be converted into brick, or stone, or earthen metal.
8. The material used for making glass, esp. in a molten state before it is blown or cast.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > glass and glass-like materials > [noun] > glass-making materials
metal1589
saffora1604
massacote1622
frit1662
polverine1662
rochetta1662
tarso1662
Spanish ashes1725
bollito1753
glass-maker's manganese1797
soap of glass1815
cullet1817
muff1820
batch1874
1589 J. Lyly Pappe with Hatchet D iv A settled raigne is not like glasse mettal, to be blowne in..fashion of euerie mans breath.
1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall ix. 71 The Vessels..being made of much purer and clearer metall, as the Glass-men speak.
1688 in E. Dunbar Social Life Former Days (1866) 2nd Ser. 129 For the metle of 2880 peice of chapine botles.
1776 Farmer's Mag. June 108 The glasses should be of the best metal (as it is called by the glass makers) perfectly transparent.
1843 G. Dodd Days at Factories xii. 266 The pots are full of ‘metal’, looking like liquid fire.
1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 132 One of the men rolls up on its end just enough ‘metal’ to make the bottle.
1982 Habitat Catal. 1982–3 99/1 The molten glass which is known as the ‘metal’ when it is ready for use, has the consistency and the appearance of treacle.
9. † b. Scottish. Mining. Usually in plural. A geological stratum containing minerals; rock encountered in mining. Obsolete.
a. Chiefly Mining. Hardened clay, slate, or shale. Also with distinguishing word. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > sedimentary rock > [noun] > shale
metal1672
shale1747
shillet1777
plate1794
skerry1844
plate-shale1881
plate rock1893
1672 G. Sinclair Hydrostaticks 260 (Jam.) All metals, as stone and tilles..ly one above another, and keep a regular course.
1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 4 in T. Nourse Mistery of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3) To keep the Earth, or some times soft Mettle, or Minerals,..from falling into the Pit.
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 34 The azure [slates] are the best metal.
1808 H. Holland Gen. View Agric. 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.
1876 H. B. Woodward et al. Geol. E. Somerset & Bristol Coal-fields x. 178 Grey metal.—Grey silicious shale... Blue metal.—Blue argillaceous shale... Black metal.—Black bituminous shale... Red metal.—Red shale.
1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining Metals, marl beds more or less indurated.
1964 A. Nelson Dict. Mining Metal, (2) a general term for rock, generally a hard shale.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > sedimentary formation > [noun] > stratum > stratum by constitution
metal1724
1724 Session Papers in Sc. National Dict. (1965) VI. (at cited word) The mettals, I discovered, were a course free stone and blaes.
1747 Session Papers in Sc. National Dict. (1965) VI. (at cited word) Your Petitioner has a Slate Craig,..which is a very valuable subject; the Metal is good.
1807 J. Headrick View Mineral. Arran 78 This must be a trouble in the metals, not a vein.
1843 Prize-ess. & Trans. Highland & Agric. Soc. Scotl. 14 77 Both these faults cut pretty fairly across the metals, to use a common phrase.
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 155 Metal..Scot., All the rocks met with in mining ore.
10. Originally Scottish. Broken stone for use in road-building, or (occasionally) as ballast for railway lines. Also in plural. Now chiefly in road metal n. at road n. Compounds 6.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > stone or rock > [noun] > for making roads
rigging stone1599
metal1782
road metal1805
roadstone1805
metalling1819
road metalling1826
hardcore1842
1782 in Sc. National Dict. (1965) VI. 259/3 The mettle for the road is not to be got but at the south end of the road.
1795 J. F. Erskine Agric. Clackmannan 77 The weight of stones (or metals, as they are generally termed by the Scotch road~makers).
c1815 in T. Telford Life T. Telford (1838) 483 The metal to be of the best blue or red whin.
1838 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 1 275/1 The quantity of the metal deposited would have formed, on ordinary ground, an embankment twenty-four or twenty-five feet high.
1845 J. C. Atkinson in Hist. Berwickshire Naturalists' Club 2 No. 13. 132 The roads of Hutton..with their wayside heaps of greenstone ‘metal’.
1879 F. H. Grundy Pictures of Past 100 Women..with arms and aprons full of stones taken from the macadamized heaps of blue metals placed along the turnpike road.
c1906 P. 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.
1964 Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) 10 Mar. 9/4 Metal for the roads in the New Plymouth area had to be carted all the way from the Patea River.
11. A cord or lash of a whip. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > corporal punishment > instrument or place of corporal punishment > [noun] > whip or scourge > whip-lash
stringc1000
lashc1381
whiplash1573
metal1611
voorslag1833
blacksnake1854
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words at Souátta A strap or leather of a whip, our boyes call it mettall.
?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xxiii. 321 The other gaue the passe With rod and mettle.
B. adj. (chiefly attributive).
Made or consisting of metal; metallic.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > [adjective] > made or consisting of
metal?1518
metalled1583
metalline1585
well-metalled1644
metallic1712
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > pop music > [adjective] > qualities of pop
metal?1518
anthemic1890
Afro-Latin-American1900
sun-kissed1907
heavy1937
Latin American1937
Memphis1938
sun-drenched1943
indie1945
rockish1955
hardcore1957
doo-wop1958
middle of the road1959
Latin1962
straight-ahead1964
easy listening1965
Motown1965
funky1967
post-rock1967
rocky1967
rock-out1968
funkadelic1969
funked out1970
grungy1971
punk1971
grunge1972
Philly1972
dub1973
drum and bass1975
disco funky1976
punkish1976
reggaefied1976
Britpop1977
post-punk1977
anarcho-punk1979
rap1980
trash rock1980
crunchy1981
industrial1981
New Romantic1981
rockist1981
garage1982
hip-hop1982
thrashy1982
urban1982
Gothic1983
hip-hopping1983
beat-box1984
lo-fi1986
technoid1986
hip-house1987
acid house1988
new jack1988
old school1988
techno1988
baggy1990
banging1990
gangsta1990
filthy1991
handbaggy1991
nu skool1991
sampladelic1991
junglist1993
?1518 Virgilius sig. Di In his hande a metall bowe that poynted euer vpon the lampe.
1636 R. James Iter Lancastrense (Chetham Soc.) 236 This faire cleere springe which courses through ye hills Conveys summe mettall tincture in hir rills.
1724 London Gaz. No. 6260/3 A..Coat, with..white Mettal Buttons.
1785 J. Hasbrouck Let. 10 Sept. in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) III. 1292 Sir if you Can make it Convenient Send the following Articles by Captain Hooghteeling Vizt..2 Gross of Mettal Buttons [etc.].
1845 P. Barlow Manuf. in Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 489/1 Enamels, as before stated, are usually laid upon a metal ground.
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Pegged boots, boots with wooden pegs in the soles, instead of metal nails or brads.
1879 J. McCarthy Hist. our 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.
1915 J. M. Thompson tr. in A. F. Steuart Papers relating to Scots in Poland 71 A white metal cup.
1916 J. Joyce Portrait of Artist i. 26 The big dishes covered with their heavy metal covers.
1974 R. Ingalls St. George & Nightclub in Man who was left Behind 102 She had..a metal cash box.
1975 L. Reed (title of record) Metal machine music.
1988 F. Weldon Leader of Band vii. 43 The metal rim of the wheel rested on the road.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.† metal-matter n. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1612 S. Sturtevant Metallica xv. 107 The Mettle-matter is that Metellar substance which is put into the Furnace to be baked, boyled or nealed.
metal ore n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > metal ore
metal orea1387
metal stone1612
thracksat1678
minera1755
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 17 (MED) Þe erþe of that lond is copious of metal ore and of salt welles.
c1400 Comm. on Canticles (Bodl. 288) in T. Arnold Sel. Eng. Wks. J. Wyclif (1871) III. 67 (MED) Hillis holden stoones and metal-oor.
1612 S. Sturtevant (title) Metallica,..comprehending the doctrine of diverse new Metallical Inventions, but especially how to..work all kinde of mettle-oares.
1841 J. W. Ord Bard 83 More terrible and potent in their roar, Than aught of earthly skill, or practised art Of cunning mechanist from metal ore.
1978 G. C. Hill & J. S. Holman Chem. in Context xix. 293 One of the most common methods of purifying metal ores is froth flotation.
metal-yield n.
ΚΠ
1877 R. W. Raymond Statistics Mines & Mining 284 The total metal-yield for that year amounted to $5,362,383.
b. Objective.
(a) † metal-melter n. Obsolete
metal-broker n.
ΚΠ
1854 Census Great Brit. 1851 136 Metal,—merchant, dealer, broker.
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Metal-broker, a dealer in metals or minerals.
1927 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 41 268 The firm of Lewisohn Brothers, metal brokers, had been the selling agents for the Montana Copper Company's product.
1986 Anthropol. Today 2 28 His career as a metal broker was cut short.
metal-grinder n.
ΚΠ
1860 Sci. Amer. Mar. 219/2 Certain new and useful improvements in that class of grinding mills in which metal grinders are employed.
1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 253 The pulmonary fibrosis of metal-grinders, of stone-workers, of potters.
1998 GQ Feb. 93/3 A grizzly bear of a man wielding a metal grinder and shouting instructions to the rest of his family.
metal-maker n.
ΚΠ
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Wisd. xv. 9 But & metal makeris he folowith, & glorie he þerþ beforn.
1890 Manufacturer & Builder May 113/3 Before mixing his batch the metal maker writes out a complete list of the ingredients.
1971 Econometrica 39 50 They may have provided crucial support to the metalmakers' political influence.
ΚΠ
a1576 L. Nowell Vocabularium Saxonicum (1952) 83/2 Geotere. A melter. A metal melter, a maker of images of brasse or other melted metall.
1635 T. Jackson Humiliation Sonne of God 305 Cast them into the furnace or to the metal-melter.
metal-mining n.
ΚΠ
1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall: Mines & Miners 284 The great advantage..of metal-mining over coal-mining is [etc.].
1922 Amer. Econ. Rev. 12 654 Separate chapters are given to the unions in the brewing industry, in coal mining, and in metal mining.
1991 RTZ Rev. Dec. 3/1 While the Palmetto State experienced something of a boom in precious metal mining during the 1980s, before this the area hadn't seen much metal mining since the beginning of the Second World War.
metal-roller n.
ΚΠ
1888 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 2 226 Metal rollers and workers, brass-workers and wire-workers, nail-makers, cutlers, and file-makers [etc.].
1900 Birmingham Weekly Post 4 Aug. 16/3 Metal-rollers not only worked themselves, but had men under them.
1994 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 100 716 Occupations with high scores on this scale include kitchen workers, laundry workers, metal rollers, welders, and foresters.
metal-turner n.
ΚΠ
1854 Census Great Brit. 1851 136 Metal, refiner, turner, worker.
1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 24 Knife-grinders, metal-turners, and needle-pointers.
1940 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 103 201 (note) Engineering turners, excluding non-ferrous metal turners.
(b)
metal-bearing adj.
ΚΠ
1865 Harper's Mag. Oct. 557/2 Minute indications furnished by each individual bib or metal-bearing deposit.
1931 I. L. Idriess Prospecting for Gold (ed. 2) Gloss. 196 Loaming, a method of prospecting for a metal-bearing vein or mineralized area in which dirt is washed from places chosen systematically around and up the slope of a hill.
1991 Amer. Hist. Rev. 96 268 The workers..were hard rock miners of the Mountain and Pacific states and British Columbia. After 1850, the extraction of metal-bearing ores became a vital industry in these areas.
metal-clattering adj.
ΚΠ
1932 D. Gascoyne Rom. Balcony 12 A metal-clattering cavalcade Advanced Across the beach.
metal-cutting adj. and n.
ΚΠ
1903 Science 9 Jan. 52/2 In many of the larger sizes of certain metal-cutting machines it is probable that marked changes will be produced in the immediate future.
1961 Times 29 Dec. 12/4 Metalcutting machines.
1991 Metalworking Production Sept. 8/4 We have decided to set up panels to deal with specific areas—eg metalcutting, metalworking, and so on.
metal-using adj.
ΚΠ
1876 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 5 130 A subsequent intrusion into, or occupation of, this chambered barrow by the metal-using Belgæ.
1925 V. G. Childe Dawn European Civilization v. 74 The first metal-using culture therefore is called Early Helladic.
1964 T. 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.
1994 Ann. Rev. Anthropol. 23 18 Protohistory is concerned with the interaction between stone-using foragers, Neolithic farmers, and metal-using food-producers as well as the ethnic and economic changes that came about as a result of the movement of Bantu-speaking agriculturalists into the sub-continent.
c. Parasynthetic and instrumental.
metal-bound adj.
ΚΠ
1859 Sci. Amer. July 60/2 A metal bound wooden fruit basket.
1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey I. 200 The long metal-bound guns without one of which an Albanian rarely moves.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 438 The strains of the organtoned melodeon Brittania metalbound with four acting stops.
metal-bushed adj.
ΚΠ
1883 Man. Seamanship for Boys' Training Ships Royal Navy (1886) 14 Spindle..passes through a metal bushed hole in the partners, up through the centre of the barrel.
metal-clad adj.
ΚΠ
1862 Harper's Mag. May 845/1 Metal-clad vessels are irresistible by wood and cannon.
1931 Flight 22 May 461/1 So gradually..the general theory of the metalclad airship was mathematically and experimentally proved.
1992 Mech. Products & Tools July 1313/1 The metal clad fibre tip provides a constant non-blot line width.
metal-clasped adj.
ΚΠ
1899 R. Kipling Stalky & Co. 203 A red-bound metal-clasped book.
1972 Renaissance Q. 25 8 English bindings ranged in price from one or two pence for a simple wrapper to a top price of fifteen shillings for an elaborate metal-clasped grand folio.
metal-faced adj.
ΚΠ
1865 Sci. Amer. Sept. 202/3 I claim the construction of the joints of artificial legs with metal-faced supporting bearings.
1887 ‘E. Douglas’ Phantasmagoria 11 Their wrought elaborate hair Is dressed with diamond butterflies, and laced With artificial flowers metal-faced, Rattling and stiff.
1934 Archit. Rev. 75 34/1 There are various metal-faced papers on the market.
2000 Automotive Engin. Internat. (Nexis) 1 Feb. 133 The test room uses Metadyne perforated metal-faced wedges.
metal-lined adj.
ΚΠ
1848 Westm. Rev. 48 312 Built with metal-lined, air-tight compartments.
1876 G. E. Voyle & G. de Saint-Clair-Stevenson Mil. Dict. (ed. 3) 254 Metal-lined cases are used as portable magazines.
1994 Interzone Nov. 54/1 The whole clamjamphrie of Ames suits, metal-lined rooms and controlled drug trips designed to snatch the slightest shimmer of altered time out of the realm of fancy into hard fact.
metal-lustred adj.
ΚΠ
1862 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 9 Others small braids encluster'd Of glassy-clear Aeolis, metal-lustred With growths of myriad feelers.
metal-rimmed adj.
ΚΠ
1932 C. Isherwood Memorial i. iii. 36 Eric's tall bony figure, with his metal-rimmed glasses and the odd pauses in his speech.
1992 B. Sterling Hacker Crackdown i. 28 You are sitting in front of a large vertical switchboard, known as a ‘cordboard’, made of shiny wooden panels, with ten thousand metal-rimmed holes punched in them, known as jacks.
metal-sheathed adj.
ΚΠ
1906 N.E.D. at Metal Metal-sheathed.
1946 Nature 2 Nov. 616/2 Messrs. F. W. Tomlinson and H. M. Wright discuss the development and uses of metal-sheathed conductors employing as insulating medium highly compressed magnesium oxide powder.
1973 D. Lees Rape of Quiet Town vii. 121 The back door was metal sheathed and firmly locked.
metal-shod adj.
ΚΠ
1879 Scribner's Monthly Dec. 232/1 The work is done in larger mortars with great metal-shod pestles.
1914 E. R. Burroughs Tarzan of Apes xiii. 174 A long, metal-shod spear.
1992 A. McConnell Quantum Leap iv. 66 Sam felt metal-shod hooves the size of his cheek just as he belly-flopped into the pony ring.
metal-studded adj.
ΚΠ
1909 Q. Rev. Jan. 148 Motor-cars,..having armoured or metal-studded tires damage the surface.
1994 Guardian 14 Mar. ii. 11/4 His dress sense—metal-studded leather waistcoat and baggy trousers—is rapperly.
d. Similative.
metal-blue adj.
ΚΠ
1930 E. Blunden Poems 309 The metal-blue cucumber slices.
1964 A. S. Byatt Shadow of Sun v. 123 The horizon stretching beyond them, solid, shining metal blue, and the bodiless paler blue of the sky laid on it weightlessly.
2000 Sunday Times 23 Apr. (Travel section) 9/1 Bare and stalwart against the metal-blue sky.
metal-cold adj.
ΚΠ
1918 D. H. Lawrence New Poems 47 Is it all nought? Cold, metal-cold?
C2. † metal bed n. Obsolete the bed of broken stone (see sense A. 10) laid down in the process of making a road.† metal edge n. Mining Obsolete rare the distinct sharp edge of a crack in the floor of a coal mine in the later stages of creep.† metal-maw n. Obsolete rare a stomach strong enough to digest metal (see quot. 1613).† metal-monging n. Obsolete rare dealing in metal.† metal pit n. Obsolete rare a mine containing metal.† metal ridge n. Mining Obsolete the floor of a gallery forced up by creep until it forms a pillar or pillars supporting the roof.† metal rig n. Mining (English regional northern) Obsolete = metal ridge n.† metal yetter n. [ < A. + yetter n.] Obsolete rare a person who casts metal, a founder.
metal age n. Archaeology the period of prehistory when weapons and tools were commonly made of copper, bronze, or iron (cf. Bronze Age n., copper age n. at copper n.1 Compounds 3, Iron Age n.1 3).
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > a civilization or culture > [noun] > metal age
metal age1873
1873 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 2 43 The first thing which strikes the observer is, that [the inscribed characters] must date from the metal age, and that they are the work of a civilised race.
1927 H. Peake & H. J. Fleure Hunters & Artists vii. 112 The dawn of the Metal Age.
1993 Current Anthropol. 34 393 Chernykh..notes destabilization throughout the Early Metal Age communities farther north in Eurasia during the second quarter of the 3d millennium.
metal arc welding n. arc welding in which the melting of a metal electrode provides the joining material.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with metal > [noun] > welding > types of
butt welding1878
lead burning1886
arc welding1890
thermite process1905
thermite welding1906
resistance welding1908
spot welding1908
seam welding1917
fusion welding1918
projection welding1918
stud welding1918
metal arc welding1926
pressure welding1926
metallic arc welding1927
flash-butt welding1933
flash welding1933
stitch welding1934
rightward welding1936
block welding1943
submerged-arc welding1945
friction welding1946
T.I.G.1960
microwelding1962
1926 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. 114 611 Metal arc welding can also be used for this purpose.
1989 A. C. Davies Sci. & Pract. Welding (ed. 9) I. i. 46 Fumes and pollutant gases also occur during welding due, for example, to the break-up of the electrode coating in metal arc welding.
metal-basher n. colloquial (chiefly British) a person or company engaged primarily in manufacturing goods from metal, esp. a manufacturer of cars, ships, etc. (cf. metal-bending n. (a)).
ΚΠ
1981 Economist 19 Sept. 75/1 Any Mannheim metal-basher or Yokohama shipbuilder would give his eye teeth to be out of his declining industry and into fashionable microelectronics.
1995 Independent on Sunday 5 Mar. (Business section) 6/6 Britain's export-led recovery is good news for old-fashioned metalbashers.
metal-bashing n. colloquial (chiefly British) the production of metal goods; industrial manufacturing.
ΚΠ
1986 D. Hedley World Energy (ed. 2) 97 The sufferers have been petrochemicals, textiles, and all the traditional ‘metal bashing’ and smokestack industries.
2000 Herald (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 18 Apr. Does he believe that metal-bashing is no longer a national asset and he simply doesn't care?
metal bath n. a bath of molten metal (e.g. mercury, lead, fusible alloys, etc.), used in a chemical or metallurgical process.
ΚΠ
1877 Philos. Trans. 1876 (Royal Soc.) 166 329 The fusible metal bath was gradually increased in temperature up to dull redness.
1904 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1903 34 671 Some of the copper is oxidized to cuprous oxide and dissolved by the metal bath.
1960 Jrnl. Industr. Econ. 8 257 The technique involves the use of a..jet..for blowing of oxygen upon the surface of the hot metal bath in a crucible similar to the Bessemer converter.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > parts of road > [noun] > bed of road
metal bedc1815
roadbed1828
c1815 in T. Telford Life T. Telford (1838) 474 In the middle of the road there is a metal bed to be formed.
1861 S. Smiles Lives Engineers II. 429 He specified that the metal bed was to be formed in two layers.
metal bender n. (a) North American colloquial, a company engaged in the manufacture of metal goods (cf. metal-basher n.); (b) a person thought to have the telekinetic ability to bend or otherwise manipulate metal objects by applying mental power rather than physical pressure.
ΚΠ
1979 Forbes (Nexis) 20 Aug. 120 Clark is not simply another metal bender.
1981 J. B. Hasted Metal-benders ii. 28 Occasionally child metal-benders have been able to recall instances of bending occurring before the Geller revelation.
1988 New Scientist 16 June 73/2 Couttie reveals the tricks of the trade of mediums, mind-readers, metal-benders and poltergeists.
2000 Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram (Nexis) 16 Apr. 6 No longer a stodgy defense industry metal-bender, but a world leader in aerospace technology.
metal-bending n. (and adj.) (a) the bending of metal, esp. as part of a manufacturing process (frequently attributive or as adj.); (b) colloquial (chiefly North American) = manufacturing n.; (c) the act of bending metal using telekinetic powers.
ΚΠ
1964 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 91 33 Wider channeling can be formed from sheet aluminium on a metal-bending machine.
1977 Forbes 15 Mar. 31/1 TRW acquired its dual character—metal-bending on the one hand, high technology on the other.
1990 L. Picknett Encycl. Paranormal 206/2 Metal-bending party-givers and their guests..have a chance to contribute to science while at the same time having a lot of fun.
1997 Northern Echo (Electronic ed.) 4 Oct. Time stood still for airport security guard David Gantschuk when he had a brush with metal-bending Uri Geller.
1999 Newsday (Electronic ed.) 16 May Lewi's father found work as a machinist in Manhattan, eventually starting his own metal-bending business.
metal carrier n. now historical (in an iron foundry) a worker who removes the pig iron from its trough after cooling.
ΚΠ
1892 Labour Comm. 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.
1971 W. K. V. Gale Iron & Steel Industry: Dict. Terms Pig lifter (obs) (metal carrier), a labourer who cleared the blast furnace pig bed after the pigs had cooled.
metal-ceramic n. = cermet n.; usually attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > alloy > [noun] > other alloys
yellow gold1558
Mannheim gold1790
spelter1815
music plate1839
Florence-leaf1858
silver-powder1875
compo1879
mokum1889
Stellite1913
Vitallium1935
Mazak1937
ceramal1949
cermet1950
metal-ceramic1950
mokume gane1979
1950 Engineering 29 Dec. 577/1 Ceramics or the new metal-ceramic compacts (‘ceramals’ or ‘ceramets’).
1974 F. J. Harty & D. H. Roberts Restorative Procedures Practising Dentist xxii. 327 Where metal-ceramic full crowns are used as retainers then the same material is normally employed for the pontic.
1995 Metall. & Materials Trans. A. 26 3021 (heading) Transition and equilibrium processes in metal-ceramic particle systems.
metal cluster n. Chemistry a compound consisting of or containing a group of metal atoms (sometimes associated with non-metal atoms) linked together by covalent or coordinate bonds.
ΚΠ
1965 S. A. F. Kettle in Nature 25 Sept. 1384/2 (heading) Octahedral metal clusters.
1983 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Chem. 595/1 Metal clusters in solution fall into two general categories: those encumbered with a co-ordination sphere of chemically bound ligands (ligated clusters), and those surrounded only by a sphere of solvent molecules (the so-called naked clusters).
1990 N. W. Alcock Bonding & Structure ix. 242 (caption) The [Ni38Pt6(CO)48H6−n]n− metal cluster.
metal drift n. Mining (now rare) a subterranean passage made in rock.
ΚΠ
1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining 168 Metal drift, a heading driven in stone.
1964 A. Nelson Dict. Mining Metal drift, a drift or heading driven in barren and hard rock.
ΚΠ
1845 Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 215/1 In the third stage, the crack is completed, and the edges assume a sharp distinct form called metal edges.
metal-evaporated tape n. a type of high-density audio and video tape produced by evaporating metal in a vacuum and condensing it on to the base.
ΚΠ
1981 Japan Econ. Jrnl. (Nexis) 3 Mar. 9 Fuji's metal tape will be able to record 2 hours and the metal evaporated tape, 4 hours.
1992 Videomaker Feb. 52/3 Hi8 uses metal particle or metal evaporated tape, offering higher coercivity than the fine-grained ferric oxide tape of S-VHS.
metal fatigue n. weakness in metal caused by repeated variations in stress; cf. fatigue n. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > weakness > [noun] > becoming or making weak > specific
fatigue1854
metal fatigue1929
1929 Sci. Monthly Feb. 177/2 We might describe X-ray studies of..the changes during metal fatigue, and many other problems.
1958 Economist 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.
1973 P. 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.
1991 J. Diski Happily ever After xix. 213 Jock's weariness..was more like metal fatigue in an airliner than a simple worn-down kind of tiredness.
metalforming n. the shaping of metal to produce a desired end product, esp. on an industrial scale by casting, machining, and welding.
ΚΠ
1932 Jrnl. Educ. Sociol. 5 398 (table) Accident rates by industries...Machinery...Metal forming...Mining.
1957 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 71 217 In the field of hot metal-forming, power-hammer forging is much more important relative to drop forging than..in the United States.
1992 Village Voice (N.Y.) 28 Jan. 31/3 (advt.) Courses in fine arts and fine crafts... Jewelry, hollowware & metalforming.
metal gauge n. a gauge for determining the thickness of sheet metal.
ΚΠ
1871 Manufacturer & Builder Jan. 2/2 Pocket Sheet-Metal Gauge.]
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1423/1 Metal-gage, one for determining the thickness of sheet-metal. A sheet-metal gage.
1998 Professional Safety Apr. 27/1 All construction materials and metal gauges should be checked.
metalhead n. slang a fan of heavy metal music.
ΚΠ
1982 ‘blotto’ Combo Akimbo (record) (title of song) Metal Head.
1984 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 24 May 10 Even though Carey once performed with the heavy-metal band Rainbow, he should in no way be considered a metal-head.
1998 Chicago Tribune 6 Sept. vii. 12/3 Try squeezing 40,000 drunken, angry metalheads into a little two-lane road.
metal jacket n. a protective outer covering of metal; spec. a metal casing which surrounds the lead or other core material of a bullet; cf. full-metal-jacket n.
ΚΠ
1854 London Jrnl. Arts, Sci., & Manuf. 44 19 A metallic strip..may be attached, without soldering, by casting the end of it into the metal jacket.
1870 Patents for Inventions: Abridgm. Specif. Fire-arms 1858–66 378 Projectiles are coated with a soft metal jacket, having projections that fit the rifling grooves.
1945 H. D. Smyth Gen. Acct. Devel. Atomic Energy Mil. Purposes 87 The problem of sealing the uranium slugs in protective metal jackets.
2006 A. Bhatnagar Lightweight Ballistic Composites ii. 53 The metal jacket not only maintains the durability and shape of the bullet but also..protects the material inside.
metal-jacketed adj. encased in a metal jacket.
ΚΠ
1888 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 19 June 1447/1 A shuttle with metal-jacketed bobbin.
1893 Ann. Rep. Secretary of War (U.S. War Dept.) III. 297 These phenomena, in spite of the diminution of weight, caliber, and surface of metal-jacketed bullets and their habitual nondeformation, will be sometimes observed with the new small-caliber projectiles.
1961 V. G. Pisolkar Introd. Heat Exchangers App. 2. 53 Metal jacketed or solid metal gaskets should be used for pressures of 300 lb./in.² and over.
2014 Orange County (Calif.) Register (Nexis) 2 Feb. I ran Camp Pendleton's hills embedded with a platoon firing grenades, rockets and thousands of rounds of metal-jacketed bullets.
metal leaf n. metal foil; spec. foil of Dutch metal (see Dutch foil n. at Dutch adj., n.1, and adv. Compounds 1b).
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1785 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 75 199 A strip of gold, silver, or Dutch metal leaf.]
1860 R. Hunt Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 5) III. 68 Metal leaf, commonly applied to the Dutch leaf to distinguish it from gold leaf.
1889 G. M. Hopkins Exper. Sci. xvii. 361 The electroscope..consists of a small flask or bottle, through the stopper of which is inserted a brass wire having..at its lower end a hook bent out horizontally to receive two strips of very thin metal leaf, either Dutch-metal leaf, silver or gold leaf, or aluminum leaf.
1994 NeWest Rev. Oct. 24/2 The former uses layers of metal leaf and oil stick to create schematic drawings which celebrate the elemental power of nature.
metalmark n. any butterfly of the predominantly tropical American family Riodinidae, most members of which have brilliant metallic markings on the wings.
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1889 S. H. Scudder Butterflies Eastern U.S. & Canada II. 788 Calephalis Borealis, the large metal-mark.
1951 A. B. Klots Field Guide Butterflies ii. 121 Metalmarks are small to small-medium sized butterflies... The popular name comes from the usual presence of small, metallic looking spots or lines on the wings.
1992 From Land Spring 5/1 The northern metalmark..only lays eggs on a single plant species, round-leaf ragwort.
metal matrix n. = metal matrix composite n.; usually attributive.
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1991 New Scientist 12 Oct. 28/2 Even Raleigh's lightest ‘metal matrix’ specialist racing frames, which are made from ceramic fibre glued together with a liquid alloy of copper and aluminium weigh around 1200 grams.
1993 Cycling Weekly 16 Jan. 20/2 High strength aluminium alloy is the main constituent of the metal matrix tubes, which are also reinforced with very fine particles of silicone [sic] carbide.
metal matrix composite n. a material composed of a matrix of aluminium alloy or other metal containing fibres or particles of a strengthening material such as ceramic.
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1976 Aviation Week (Nexis) 26 Jan. 123 These are metal-matrix composites consisting of solid lubricants mixed with refractory metals and hot pressed in graphite molds which supply carbon to the unit.
1990 Mountain Biking UK Summer Special 44/3 Metal matrix composites (metal/non-ferrous mixtures) and carbon fibre, are going to..turn everything upside down. What's good is that the space shuttle is up and going again. That's where a lot of the metal matrix composite experiments were being conducted.
1998 Automotive Engineer Mar. 53/1 Metal matrix composites..are near commercial application in..prop shafts and tyre studs.
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1613 S. Purchas Pilgrims i. xvii. 79 They yet esteemed her a Goddesse, and offred vnto her fishes of gold & siluer: and the Priests all day long set beofre her true fishes rosted and sodden, which after themselues did eate; & it is not to be doubted but the mettall-mawes of those Ostriges could also digest the other.
metal Mike n. Nautical slang a mechanical device which steers a vessel to a selected course.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > steering equipment > [noun] > helm > automatic steering devices
automatic helmsman1895
iron mike1923
automatic pilot1928
metal Mike1929
1929 Yachting 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.
1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 145 Metal Mike, the ‘automatic helmsman’.
metal monger n. †(a) a person who deals in metal (obsolete); (b) Music colloquial a heavy metal musician.
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society > trade and finance > trader > traders or dealers in specific articles > [noun] > in metal
lead-man1497
metal man1566
metal monger1576
1576 A. Fleming tr. Hippocrates in Panoplie Epist. 283 They dig the ground like greedie metal mongers.
1996 Time Out N.Y. 19 June 63/2 Two selections from the early '60s records are reprised as bonus tracks by kiddie metalmongers Green Jelly.
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1631 J. Done Polydoron 85 A mettall-monging Alchimist is but a hors-keeper to a coyner, however hee curries his tromperie.
metal paper n. rare gilt paper (see quot.).
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1901 J. Black Illustr. Carpenter & Builder Ser.: Home Handicrafts 39 If the paste is not to be used for gilt papers (sometimes called ‘metal’ or ‘gold’ papers), add 2 oz. of powdered alum.
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society > occupation and work > workplace > places where raw materials are extracted > mine > [noun] > other mines
crystal mine1600
metal pita1603
salt mine1669
copper-grove1702
wad-mine1747
a1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhemists New Test. (1618) 656 He is verily worthy to be condemned to dig in the mettall pits.
metal polish n. a polish used for brightening metals.
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1897 Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 429/2 Scraps of pickled mess-beef..lay about among empty tins of metal polish.
1931 Good Housek. (U.S. ed.) Dec. 86/2 There are two general methods of cleaning silver: polishing it with fine metal polish, and the electrolytic method.
1999 W. Gibson All Tomorrow's Parties xxxviii. 160 The place smells of machine oil, metal polish, burnt coffee.
metal proof adj. bulletproof.
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society > armed hostility > defence > [adjective] > proof against weapons
cannon-proof1588
pistol-proof1590
sword-proofa1593
musket-proof1603
arrow-proof1612
shot-free1616
bomb-proof1702
splinter-proof1834
bullet-proof1856
metal proof1906
hard1958
1906 N.E.D. at Metal Metal proof, ?bullet-proof.
metal rectifier n. a form of rectifier (rectifier n. 4) in which rectification takes place at the junction between a metal and an oxide of the metal or a semiconductor.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > [noun] > rectifier
rectifier1895
metal rectifier1927
phanotron1931
ignitron1933
squarer1965
1927 Wireless World 30 Nov. 733/1 (heading) Battery charging rectifier incorporating the new dry ‘metal’ rectifier.
1955 K. Hutton & A. Swallow Chem. for Gen. Sci. v. 67 (in figure) Metal rectifier. Step-down transformer. [etc.]
1971 B. Scharf Engin. & its Lang. xx. 276 Three important types of rectifier are diode rectifiers, mercury arc rectifiers and metal rectifiers.
1979 V. Pitt New Penguin Dict. Electronics 310 Metal rectifiers only operate at low voltages of the order of a few volts.
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1829 J. Buddle in Evid. State Coal Trade 8 The next stage is when the crack is completed, and it assumes the shape of a metal ridge. The next is when the metal ridge reaches the roof.
1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining Metal ridges, pillars forming themselves into supports to the roof, formed by the creep in the boards.
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1848 Eng. & Foreign Mining Gloss. (Newcastle Terms) 124 Metal rig, the strata forced up by a creep.
1888 G. C. Greenwell Gloss. Terms Coal Trade Northumberland & Durham (ed. 3) 36 Metal ridge or metal rig, see Creep.
metalsmith n. a person who forges or works in metal, a metalworker.
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society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > workers with specific materials > metalworker > [noun] > forger or smith
smithOE
smithier1379
forgerc1380
encloser1382
hammersmith1382
metalsmithc1384
fevera1450
hammerman1483
smithera1525
anvil-beater1677
metalworker1851
dinger1863
drummer1881
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) xli. 7 The metal smyth [a1425 L.V. smyth of metal; L. faber aerarius] smytende hym with an hamer.
1888 Amer. Naturalist 22 374 At the late meeting of the Society of Anthropology, Washington, D.C., interesting papers were read,—one by Mr. H. M. Reynolds on the subject of Algonquin metal-smiths.
1943 Jrnl. Negro Educ. 12 347 Enlistees at Hampton Institute are trained to be electricians, carpenters, shipfitters, machinists, metalsmiths, firemen and cooks.
1995 New Scientist 11 Mar. 43/3 Indigenous metalsmiths quickly mastered such sophisticated techniques as smelting, gilding,..and the production of silver-copper alloys.
metal stone n. †(a) the ore of a metal (obsolete); (b) a combination of shale and sandstone (now rare).
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the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > metal ore
metal orea1387
metal stone1612
thracksat1678
minera1755
1612 S. Sturtevant Metallica ii. 35 Prepared or roasted oares, Mine-stones, or Mettle-stones beeing the fitt matter of Metallique liquours.
1699 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 21 73/1 Thomas Waike bored for Coal..in grey metal Stone two yards and two quarters.
1799 E. Darwin Bot. Garden (ed. 4) I. xxiii. figure facing p. 375 Soft Blue Metal Stone..Grey Metal Stone..Black Metal Stone with hard Girdles..Blue Metal Stone.
1804 J. Parkinson Org. Remains Former World I. xvi. 170 Iron-stone, called also metal-stone, and by the Scotch colliers dogger band, is a stratum, which is generally next above the roof of the coal.
1849 G. C. Greenwell Gloss. Terms Coal Trade Northumberland & Durham 36 Metal Stone, a mixture of shale with sandstone.
1953 W. J. Arkell & S. I. Tomkeieff Eng. Rock Terms 75/2 Metal-stone, sandy shale or shaly sandstone.
metal thread n. = metallic thread n. at metallic adj. and n. Compounds 2.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [noun] > metallic
metal thread1853
metallic thread1876
metal yarn1913
metallic yarn1963
1853 Athenæum 29 Jan. 142/1 Their styles were made of metal threads, with green smalt, or simply gilt.
1891 O. Wilde Picture of Dorian Gray xv The silken cords hung with round crystals and tasselled in plaited metal threads.
1999 Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair: 1999 Handbk. 43/1 (caption) An exceptional raised-work panel depicting Charles II, worked onto a satin ground in vibrant colours using silk, metal thread, and applied silk-covered wooden moulds.
metal-to-metal adj. designating a direct contact or connection between two objects made of metal.
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the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > fact or action of being joined or joining > fact or action of being connected or connecting > [adjective] > specific type of connection
metal-to-metal1906
1906 Westm. Gaz. 20 Nov. 4/2 Metal-to-metal clutches are..extending in favour at the expense of the old leather-faced bone type.
1991 Offshore Engineer Sept. 6 The parallel bore metal (PBM) seal..is a true metal-to-metal bidirectional seal.
metal value n. the actual value of a coin as a piece of metal.
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1893 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 1 386 The United States, the Latin Union, Germany, and other countries have..silver coins in circulation..whose purchasing power considerably exceeds their metal value.
1991 Jrnl. Econ. Hist. 51 161 Much of [Britain's economic crisis] was ascribed to the loss of wool exports to the Continent resulting from the undervaluation of the German and Polish currencies: prices rose less than the metal value of coin..declined.
metal-visaged adj. rare having a hard, blank facial expression.
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1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xlvii. 516 Even the metal-visaged Mr. Martin condescended to smile.
metal wood n. Golf a driver or other club with a head made from a metal alloy rather than of wood.
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1982 Golf Monthly Aug. 46 (advt.) The S350 Wood has a full wrap around casting..[which] eliminates club vibrations so often found in so called ‘metal woods’.
1997 G. Player Compl. Golfer's Handbk. 81 Metal woods propel the ball further and are more forgiving than wooden woods.
metal yarn n. = metallic thread n. at metallic adj. and n. Compounds 2.
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1913 J. M. Matthews Textile Fibers (ed. 3) i. 12 Bayko metal yarn is a textile product recently introduced.
1994 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Electronic ed.) 7 Nov. Included will be the traditional feathers, furs and deerhides used before the advent of the white man, as well as beads, metal yarn, ribbonwork and fabric garments imported later.
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society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > workers with specific materials > metalworker > [noun] > caster or founder
yettereOE
metal yetterc1400
founder1402
wellera1425
caster1535
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 6725 A queynt man, a metal ȝeoter, Þat couþe cast in all þing.
Derivatives
ˈmetal-like adj. that has a metallic appearance; that has chemical properties similar to those of a metal.
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1852 G. A. Sala in Househ. Words 4 Sept. 574/2 A franc..stern and austere-looking,..very different from the smug garishness of the Philippine coins, and the flashy, metal-like glitter of the second republic.
1888 Amer. Naturalist 22 129 The word [marcasite]..was especially applied to minerals which showed bright, metal-like lustre.
1913 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 88 41 When cold the metal-like product resembled aluminium in colour but was quite crystalline in structure throughout.
1948 Acta Crystallogr. 1 180/1 A large number of metals form metal-like phases with hydrogen, boron, carbon, nitrogen, and occasionally oxygen.
1965 C. S. G. Phillips & R. J. P. Williams Inorg. Chem. I. xi. 403 Metals and metal-like hydrides are similarly electron-deficient.
1971 I. G. Gass et al. Understanding Earth iii. 61/2 A more extreme theory suggested that the core was hydrogen, but in a metal-like form.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
metalv.
/ˈmɛtl/, U.S. /ˈmɛd(ə)l/ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > disposition or character > shape inclinations of, dispose [verb (transitive)]
frame1549
metal?1578
spirit1606
?1578 W. Patten Let. Entertainm. Killingwoorth 25 I cannot tell what too make of him, saue that I may gess hiz bak be metalld like a lamprey.
1611 T. Heywood Golden Age iii. sig. E4v Oh you crownes, Why are you made, and mettald out of cares?
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society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with metal > work with metal [verb (transitive)] > furnish or fit with metal
metal1617
1617 Capt. Pepwell in W. Foster Lett. received by E. India Co. (1901) V. 155 The muskets are generally naught, being not well metalled.
1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 230 Where the pipes run side by side with gas-pipes, it is desirable to metal the joints.
3. transitive. To make or mend (a road) with road metal. See metal n. 10, metalled adj. 2.
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society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > paving and road-building > pave or build roads [verb (transitive)] > pave > pave with specific material
causeya1552
flag1615
causeway1744
metal1806
blind1812
macadamize1823
slab1832
flint1834
pebble1835
asphalt1872
concrete1875
cube1887
cobble1888
block1891
wood-block1908
tarmacadam1910
tarviate1926
tarmac1966
1806 R. Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 269 [The stone] is soft, and..has been found totally unfit for metalling roads.
1825 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. 512 Farm roads of this description are only metalled in the horse tracks.
1890 Spectator 6 Sept. Roads..so well metalled with granite that they are hardly ever dusty.
1919 H. Trench Napoleon iii. i. 81 Is this cliff-road metalled?
1992 B. Unsworth Sacred Hunger xxiv. 229 The road between Liverpool and Prescot was metalled and tolls charged for the upkeep.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.c1230
v.?1578