Word.ws English Dictionary

pinchbeck

pinchbeck noun: an alloy of copper and zinc once used as imitation gold for cheap jewelry.

Noun

pinchbeck (usually uncountable, plural pinchbecks)

  1. (usually) An alloy of copper and zinc once used as imitation gold for cheap jewelry.

Adjective

pinchbeck (comparative more pinchbeck, superlative most pinchbeck)

  1. (not comparable) Made of pinchbeck.
    • on the inside were suspended a variety of watches, pinchbeck, silver, and one or two of gold1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Artist of the Beautiful”, in Mosses from an Old Manse
  2. Sham; spurious, artificial; being a cheap substitution; only superficially attractive.
    • Where, in these pinchbeck days, can we hope to find the old agricultural virtue in all its purity?1860, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage
    • Vain Delight must have lost her freshness, and be older and more pinchbeck.1912, Esther Willard Bates, Pageants and Pageantry, page 237

Proper noun capitalized: Pinchbeck

Pinchbeck (countable and uncountable, plural Pinchbecks)

  1. A village and civil parish in South Holland district, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom (OS grid ref TF2425).
  2. A surname.

Examples of pinchbeck in a sentence

  • Coming at a time when Alexander was trying desperately to halt Napoleon's advance, the British response to his call for help appeared even more pinchbeck than it was.1996, John M. Sherwig, Guineas and Gunpowder: British Foreign Aid In the Wars with France, 1793-1815, page 180:
  • Anyway, at least I had created the pinchbeck crown in which Dai could place his jewel.2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 183:

Forms of pinchbeck

Noun
pluralpinchbecks
Adjective
comparativemore pinchbeck
superlativemost pinchbeck
Proper noun
pluralPinchbecks

Origin of pinchbeck

Named after Christopher Pinchbeck, an 18th century London watchmaker who developed the alloy.

Questions about pinchbeck

What does pinchbeck mean?
Pinchbeck means an alloy of copper and zinc once used as imitation gold for cheap jewelry.
How do you use pinchbeck in a sentence?
Coming at a time when Alexander was trying desperately to halt Napoleon's advance, the British response to his call for help appeared even more pinchbeck than it was.
What part of speech is pinchbeck?
Pinchbeck can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
What is the plural of pinchbeck?
The plural of pinchbeck is pinchbecks.

Words near pinchbeck in the dictionary

  1. pinchable
  2. Pinchas
  3. pinchback
  4. pinchbar
  5. pinchbars
  6. pinchbeck
  7. pinchbecks
  8. pinchcock
  9. pinchcocks
  10. pinchcommons
  11. pincheck

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pinchbeck (page history and authors); Pinchbeck (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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