Adjacent Words

Metal definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

METAL, n. met'l. [L. metallum.] A simple, fixed, shining, opake body or substance, insoluble in water, fusible by heat, a good conductor of heat and electricity, capable when in the state of an oxyd, of uniting with acids and forming with them metallic salts. Many of the metals also malleable or extensible by the hammer, and some of them extremely ductile. Metals are mostly fossil, sometimes found native or pure, but more generally combined with other matter. Some metals are more malleable than others, and this circumstance gave rise to the distinction of metals and semi-metals; a distinction little regarded at the present day. Recent discoveries have enlarged the list of the metals, and the whole number now recognized is thirty, exclusive of those which have been recently discovered, as the bases of the earths and alkalies. Twelve of these are malleable, viz. platina, gold, silver,mercury, lead, copper, tin, iron, zink, palladium, nickel, and cadmium. The following sixteen are not sufficiently tenacious to bear extension by beating, viz. arsenic, antimony, bismuth, cobalt,manganese, tellurium, titanium, columbium,molybden, tungsten,chrome, osmium, iridium, rhodium, uranium, and cerium.
To these may be added potassium, sodium, barium, strontium, calcium, and lithium.
The following have not been exhibited in a separate form; magnesium, glucinum, yttrium, aluminum, thorinum, zirconium, and silicium.
1. Courage; spirit; so written by mistake for mettle.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: containing or made of or resembling or characteristic of a metal; "a metallic compound"; "metallic luster"; "the strange metallic note of the meadow lark, suggesting the clash of vibrant blades"- Ambrose Bierce [syn: metallic, metal] [ant: nonmetal, nonmetallic] n
1: any of several chemical elements that are usually shiny solids that conduct heat or electricity and can be formed into sheets etc. [syn: metallic element, metal]
2: a mixture containing two or more metallic elements or metallic and nonmetallic elements usually fused together or dissolving into each other when molten; "brass is an alloy of zinc and copper" [syn: alloy, metal] v
1: cover with metal

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin metallum mine, metal, from Greek metallon Date: 14th century 1. any of various opaque, fusible, ductile, and typically lustrous substances that are good conductors of electricity and heat, form cations by loss of electrons, and yield basic oxides and hydroxides; especially one that is a chemical element as distinguished from an alloy 2. a. mettle 1a b. the substance out of which a person or thing is made 3. glass in its molten state 4. a. printing type metal b. matter set in metal type 5. road metal 6. heavy metal II. transitive verb (-aled or -alled; -aling or -alling) Date: 1617 to cover or furnish with metal

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n., adj., & v. --n. 1 a any of a class of chemical elements such as gold, silver, iron, and tin, usu. lustrous ductile solids and good conductors of heat and electricity and forming basic oxides. b an alloy of any of these. 2 material used for making glass, in a molten state. 3 Heraldry gold or silver as tincture. 4 (in pl.) the rails of a railway line. 5 = road-metal (see ROAD(1)). --adj. made of metal. --v.tr. (metalled, metalling; US metaled, metaling) 1 provide or fit with metal. 2 Brit. make or mend (a road) with road-metal. Phrases and idioms: metal detector an electronic device giving a signal when it locates metal. metal fatigue fatigue (see FATIGUE n. 2) in metal. Etymology: ME f. OF metal or L metallum f. Gk metallon mine

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Metal Met"al (? or ?; 277), n. [F. m['e]tal, L. metallum metal, mine, Gr. ? mine; cf. Gr. ? to search after. Cf. Mettle, Medal.] 1. (Chem.) An elementary substance, as sodium, calcium, or copper, whose oxide or hydroxide has basic rather than acid properties, as contrasted with the nonmetals, or metalloids. No sharp line can be drawn between the metals and nonmetals, and certain elements partake of both acid and basic qualities, as chromium, manganese, bismuth, etc. Note: Popularly, the name is applied to certain hard, fusible metals, as gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, zinc, nickel, etc., and also to the mixed metals, or metallic alloys, as brass, bronze, steel, bell metal, etc. 2. Ore from which a metal is derived; -- so called by miners. --Raymond. 3. A mine from which ores are taken. [Obs.] Slaves . . . and persons condemned to metals. --Jer. Taylor. 4. The substance of which anything is made; material; hence, constitutional disposition; character; temper. Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. --Shak. 5. Courage; spirit; mettle. See Mettle. --Shak. Note: The allusion is to the temper of the metal of a sword blade. --Skeat. 6. The broken stone used in macadamizing roads and ballasting railroads. 7. The effective power or caliber of guns carried by a vessel of war. 8. Glass in a state of fusion. --Knight. 9. pl. The rails of a railroad. [Eng.] Base metal (Chem.), any one of the metals, as iron, lead, etc., which are readily tarnished or oxidized, in contrast with the noble metals. In general, a metal of small value, as compared with gold or silver. Fusible metal (Metal.), a very fusible alloy, usually consisting of bismuth with lead, tin, or cadmium. Heavy metals (Chem.), the metallic elements not included in the groups of the alkalies, alkaline earths, or the earths; specifically, the heavy metals, as gold, mercury, platinum, lead, silver, etc. Light metals (Chem.), the metallic elements of the alkali and alkaline earth groups, as sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, etc.; also, sometimes, the metals of the earths, as aluminium. Muntz metal, an alloy for sheathing and other purposes, consisting of about sixty per cent of copper, and forty of zinc. Sometimes a little lead is added. It is named from the inventor. Prince's metal (Old Chem.), an alloy resembling brass, consisting of three parts of copper to one of zinc; -- also called Prince Rupert's metal.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Metal Met"al, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Metaled (? or ?) or Metalled; p. pr. & vb. n. Metaling or Metalling.] To cover with metal; as, to metal a ship's bottom; to metal a road.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(metals) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. Metal is a hard substance such as iron, steel, gold, or lead. ...pieces of furniture in wood, metal and glass... He hit his head against a metal bar. N-MASS see also base metal

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

met'-al (chashmal; elektron; the King James Version amber; Eze 8:2, the Revised Version margin "amber"): The substance here intended is a matter of great uncertainty. In Egypt bronze was, called chesmen, which may be connected with the Hebrew chashmal; the Greek elektron too has generally been accepted as an alloy of gold or silver or other metals, but this is far from certain. Professor Ridgeway (EB, I, cols. 134-36) has conclusively shown, however, that amber was well known in early times and that there is nothing archaeologically improbable in the reading of the King James Version.

Amber is a substance analogous to the vegetable resins, and is in all probability derived from extinct coniferous trees. The best or yellow variety was obtained by the ancients from the coasts of the Baltic where it is still found more plentifully than elsewhere. A red amber has been found in South Europe and in Phoenicia. From earliest times amber has been prized as an ornament; Homer apparently refers to it twice. Amber bracelets and necklaces are highly prized by the Orientals--especially Jewesses --today, and they are credited with medicinal properties.

See ELECTRUM; STONES, PRECIOUS.

E. W. G. Masterman

Moby Thesaurus

Dutch foil, achievement, alerion, aluminum, aluminum foil, americium, animal charge, annulet, argent, armorial bearings, armory, arms, asphalt, azure, bandeau, bar, bar sinister, barium, baton, bearings, bend, bend sinister, beryllium, billet, bismuth, blacktop, blazon, blazonry, bordure, broad arrow, bullion, cadency mark, cadmium, calcium, canton, carpet, causeway, cement, cerium, cesium, chaplet, charge, chevron, chief, chrome, chromium, coat of arms, cobalt, cobblestone, cockatrice, concrete, copper, coronet, crescent, crest, cross, cross moline, crown, device, difference, differencing, dysprosium, eagle, earth metals, erbium, ermine, ermines, erminites, erminois, escutcheon, europium, falcon, fess, fess point, field, file, flag, flanch, fleur-de-lis, floor, fret, fur, fusil, gadolinium, gallium, garland, germanium, gold, gold dust, gold foil, gold leaf, griffin, gules, gyron, hatchment, helmet, heraldic device, holmium, honor point, impalement, impaling, indium, inescutcheon, iridium, iron, label, lanthanum, lead, lead foil, lion, lithium, lozenge, lutetium, magnesia, magnesium, manganese, mantling, marshaling, martlet, mascle, mercury, metal foil, metal leaf, metalleity, metallic, metallicity, metallics, metallike, metalline, metalloid, metalware, metalwork, molybdenum, motto, mullet, native metals, neodymium, nickel, niobium, noble metals, nombril point, octofoil, or, ordinary, organometallic, orle, osmium, pale, palladium, paly, pave, pean, pebble, pheon, phosphorus, platinum, polonium, potassium, praseodymium, precious metals, promethium, protactinium, purpure, quarter, quartering, radium, rare metals, rhenium, rose, rubidium, ruthenium, sable, saltire, samarium, scandium, scutcheon, semimetal, shield, silver, silver foil, sodium, spread eagle, strontium, subordinary, tantalum, tar, technetium, tenne, terbium, thallium, thulium, tin, tincture, tinfoil, titanium, torse, tressure, tungsten, unicorn, uranium, vair, vanadium, vert, wolfram, wreath, yale, ytterbium, yttrium, zinc, zirconium