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Webster 1913 Edition

Metal

Met′al

(? or ?; 277)
,
Noun.
[F.
métal
, L.
metallum
metal, mine, Gr. [GREEK] mine; cf. Gr. [GREEK] 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.
☞ 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.
Shakespeare
5.
Courage; spirit; mettle. See
Mettle
.
Shak.
☞ 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
.

Met′al

,
Verb.
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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Metal

METAL

,
Noun.
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.

Definition 2024

Metal

Metal

See also: metal, métal, and metál

German

Noun

Metal m

  1. heavy metal (music)

metal

metal

See also: Metal, métal, and metál

English

Noun

metal ‎(countable and uncountable, plural metals)

  1. (heading) Chemical elements or alloys, and the mines where their ores come from.
    1. Any of a number of chemical elements in the periodic table that form a metallic bond with other metal atoms; generally shiny, somewhat malleable and hard, often a conductor of heat and electricity.
      • 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:
        Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.
    2. Any material with similar physical properties, such as an alloy.
      • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher, chapter1:
        But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […].
    3. (astronomy) An element which was not directly created after the Big Bang but instead formed through nuclear reactions; any element other than hydrogen and helium.
      • 2003, Michael A. Seeds, Astronomy: The Solar System and Beyond, Thomson Brooks/Cole (ISBN 9780534395377)
        Most of the matter in stars is hydrogen and helium, and the metals (including carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and so on) were cooked up inside stars.
      • 2008, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Geochemical Society, Oxygen in the solar system, Mineralogical Society of Amer (ISBN 9780939950805)
        Thus, for the remaining elements, including oxygen, the solid phase appears to be important. In fact, at a metallicity of Z=0.02, and with a gas-to-dust ratio of 100, about half of the metals — including oxygen — are contained in the solid phase.
      • 2015, Alan Longstaff, Astrobiology: An Introduction, CRC Press (ISBN 9781498728454), page 350
        Metals include oxygen and carbon which means that water and organic molecules would have been abundant in the early universe, perhaps paving the way for the emergence of life within a couple of billion years of the Big Bang.
    4. Crushed rock, stones etc. used to make a road.
    5. (mining) The ore from which a metal is derived.
      (Can we find and add a quotation of Raymond to this entry?)
    6. (obsolete) A mine from which ores are taken.
      • Jeremy Taylor (1613–1677)
        slaves […] and persons condemned to metals
  2. (heraldry) A light tincture used in a coat of arms, specifically argent and or.
  3. Molten glass that is to be blown or moulded to form objects.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)
  4. (music) A category of rock music encompassing a number of genres (including thrash metal, death metal, heavy metal, etc.) characterized by strong drum-beats and distorted guitars.
  5. (archaic) The substance that constitutes something or someone; matter; hence, character or temper; mettle.
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2 Scene 1:
      LEONATO. Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband.
      BEATRICE. Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be over-mastered with a piece of valiant dust?
  6. The effective power or calibre of guns carried by a vessel of war.
  7. (Britain, obsolete, in the plural) The rails of a railway.
  8. (informal, travel, aviation) The actual airline operating a flight, rather than any of the codeshare operators.
    We have American Airlines tickets, but it's on British Airways metal.‎

Antonyms

  • (any of a number of chemical elements in the periodic table that form a metallic bond with other metal atoms): nonmetal

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

metal ‎(comparative more metal, superlative most metal)

  1. (music) Characterized by strong drum-beats and distorted guitars. [1970s and after]
  2. Having the emotional or social characteristics associated with metal music; brash, bold, frank, unyielding, etc.

Related terms

Verb

metal ‎(third-person singular simple present metals, present participle metalling, simple past and past participle metalled)

  1. To make a road using crushed rock, stones etc.

Asturian

Noun

metal m ‎(plural metales)

  1. metal

Breton

Noun

metal m ‎(plural metaloù)

  1. metal

Catalan

Noun

metal m ‎(plural metals)

  1. metal

Danish

Etymology

From Latin metallum, from Ancient Greek μέταλλον ‎(métallon, “metal, mine”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /metal/, [meˈtˢal]

Noun

metal n (singular definite metallet, plural indefinite metaller)

  1. metal

Inflection

Italian

Etymology

English

Noun

metal m ‎(invariable)

  1. (music) metal

Synonyms

Related terms

Anagrams

Middle French

Noun

metal m (plural metaulx)

  1. metal

Old French

Etymology

Latin metallum, see above

Noun

metal m ‎(oblique plural metaus or metax or metals, nominative singular metaus or metax or metals, nominative plural metal)

  1. metal (material)

Old Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed by apocope from Latin metallum, from Ancient Greek μέταλλον ‎(métallon).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [meˈtal]

Noun

metal m (plural metales)

  1. metal
    • c. 1250: Alfonso X, Lapidario, 2r.
      Et es grand marauilla que el fierro que uence todos los otros metales por fortaleza que a en ſi uence lo eſta piedra por ſu ṕṕedat.
      And it is a great marvel that iron, which defats all other metals due to the strength it has, is defeated by this stone due to its property.
    • Idem, f. 21v.
      Et otroſſi ſi lo mezclan con eſtanno torna negro. ¬ ſi con plata lo mezclan recibe la blancura della ¬ aſſi faz con cada metal.
      And also, if they mix it with tin it becomes black, and if they mix it with silver it receives whiteness from it, and likewise with every metal.

Descendants

Polish

Etymology

From Latin metallum

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmɛtal/

Noun

metal m inan

  1. metal
  2. (heraldry) metal

Declension

Antonyms

Derived terms

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese metal, from Old Spanish metal, from Catalan metall, from Latin metallum ‎(“metal, mine, quarry, mineral”), from Ancient Greek μέταλλον ‎(métallon, “mine, quarry, metal”), from μέταλλευειν ‎(métalleuein, “to mine, quarry”), of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /mɨ.ˈtaɫ/
  • Hyphenation: me‧tal

Noun

metal m (plural metais)

  1. metal

Romanian

Noun

metal n

  1. metal

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mětaːl/
  • Hyphenation: me‧tal

Noun

mètāl m ‎(Cyrillic spelling мѐта̄л)

  1. (chemistry) metal

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

French métal or Catalan metall, these from Latin metallum, from Ancient Greek μέταλλον ‎(métallon, “mine, quarry, metal”).

Noun

metal m ‎(plural metales)

  1. metal
  2. (heraldry) metal
  3. (music) metal

Related terms

Turkish

Noun

metal ‎(definite accusative }}}, plural }}})

  1. metal

Turkmen

Noun

metal ‎(definite accusative }}}, plural }}})

  1. metal

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French metal ‎(“metal”), from Latin metallum ‎(“metal, mine, quarry, mineral”), from Ancient Greek μέταλλον ‎(métallon, “mine, quarry, metal”), from μέταλλευειν ‎(métalleuein, “to mine, quarry”), of unknown origin, but apparently related to μέταλλαν ‎(métallan, “to seek after”), also of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈmɛ.ɾl̩], /ˈmɛtəl/
  • Rhymes: -ɛtəl
  • Homophone: mettle
  • Homophones: medal, meddle (in accents with flapping)

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