metals

Noun

metal (countable and uncountable, plural metals)

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.
   • 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.2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884, archived from the original on 26 Mar 2019
2. Any material with similar physical properties as those chemical elements, especially as a combination of several of them, such as an alloy.
   • 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...1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC
3. An element which was not directly created after the Big Bang but instead formed through nuclear reactions; any element other than hydrogen and helium.
   • 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.2003, Michael A. Seeds, Astronomy: The Solar System and Beyond, Thomson Brooks/Cole, →ISBN
4. Crushed rock, stones etc. used to make a road.
   • One of the most important tasks was the metalling of the roads, and the dumping of metal beside them in parts where it was impossible to lay it, in order that work might commence with the assault. The surface of the roads was good, but only because the Division had been holding a front so wide...1922, Falls Cyril, The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division, M'Caw, Stevenson and Orr, Ltd
5. The ore from which a metal is derived.
6. (obsolete) A mine from which ores are taken.
   • slaves […] and persons condemned to metals1660, Jeremy Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, or the Rule of Conscience in All Her General Measures; […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] James Flesher, for Richard Royston […], →OCLC

See all 16 meanings of metal