pig leadn.
/ˈpɪɡ lɛd/, U.S. /ˈpɪɡ ˌlɛd/ Metallurgy.
Crude lead as first obtained from a smelting furnace, in the form of oblong blocks. Cf. pig iron n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > base metal > [noun] > lead > lead in specific form
base bulliona1593
web lead1686
pig lead1736
lead bullion1905
lead wool1908
1736 S.-Carolina Gaz. 15 May 3/1 Just imported and to be sold by John Sheppard in Tradd street,..lead weights, pig lead, oznabrigs, [etc.].
1791 in E. C. Barker Austin Papers (1924) I. i. 9 Take any quantity of pure pig Lead; and Melt down in a Kettle.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 360 The methods by which pig-lead is manufactured into sheet-lead.
1871 W. Elder Questions of Day 229 The duty upon pig lead was $3 per hundred pounds.
1903 J. Masefield Ballads 19 With a cargo of Tyne coal, Road-rails, pig-lead.
1952 T. Armstrong Adam Brunskill iv. 99 Taking the slimes and both kinds of slags..I shouldn't be surprised if they averaged around five per cent o' pig lead.
2000 Evening Post (Nexis) 22 Feb. 6 I have invented an infallible and secret way to transmute pig-lead into gold bars.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1736