- met|al
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–n.1. a) any one of a group of chemical elements, such as iron, gold, silver, copper, lead, and tin. Metals usually ave a shiny surface, are good conductors of heat and electricity, and can be melted or fused, hammered into thin sheets, or drawn out into wires. They also form alloys with each other. »
Very few metals…exist in the earth's crust in metallic form (Science News).
b) any alloy or fused mixture of these, such as steel, bronze, brass, or pewter. c) the constituent matter of a metal or of metals collectively; metallic substance: »a mirror of polished metal.
2. Chemistry. any chemical element or mixture of chemical elements which lose electrons from their atoms in most chemical reactions and react with certain acids to form salts. In the salt the metal takes on a positive charge. »The positive valency of metals, and the fact that they form positive ions in solution, indicate that the atoms of a metal will part readily with one or more of their outer electrons (Sears and Zemansky).
3. an object made of metal, such as one of the rails of a railroad: »He had fallen from an engine, And been dragged along the metals (William E. Henley).
4. broken stone, cinders, or rubble used for roads or as ballast for roadbeds or railroad tracks; road metal.5. the melted material that becomes glass or pottery, or the glaze on pottery.6. Figurative. a) basic stuff; material; substance: »Cowards are not made of the same metal as heroes. ... the native metal of a man (James Russell Lowell).
b) = mettle. (Cf. ↑mettle)8. the aggregate number, mass, or power of the guns of a warship.9. Heraldry. one of the three kinds of tincture (the other two being color and fur). The two heraldic metals are or (gold) and argent (silver).–adj.made of metal: »a metal container, a metal coin. Quonset huts are usually covered with metal sheeting.
–v.t.to furnish, cover, or fit with metal.╂[< Old French metal, learned borrowing from Latin metallum metal, mine < Greek métallon (originally) mine]–met´al|like´, adjective.metal.,metallurgy.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
