metal

From Middle English metal, a borrowing from Old French metal, from Latin metallum (“metal, mine, quarry, mineral”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon, “mine, quarry, metal”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛtəl/
  • (US) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛɾəɫ]

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -ɛtəl
• Homophone: mettle
• Homophones: medal, meddle (in accents with flapping)

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, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

        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:

        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

        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, 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.[1]
   6. (obsolete) A mine from which ores are taken.
      • 1660, 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:

        slaves […] and persons condemned to metals

2. (heraldry) A light tincture used in a coat of arms, specifically argent (white or silver) and or (gold).
3. Molten glass that is to be blown or moulded to form objects[2].
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. (figurative, archaic) The substance that constitutes something or someone; matter; hence, character or temper.

   Synonym: mettle

   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     Leonato. Well, neece, I hope to ſee you one day fitted with a husband. / Beatrice. Not till God make men of ſome other mettall then earth, would it not grieue a woman to be over-maſtred with a peece of valiant duſt?

6. The effective power or calibre of guns carried by a vessel of war.
7. (UK, 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.

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

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.
   • 2008, Lich King, “Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast”, in Toxic Zombie Onslaught:

     The beast will destroy everything in his path
     With this song on the upcoming brawl
     It sure is a long one and tough to pronounce but
     It's the most metal title of all

   • 2012 August, “Tested Bowling Balls”, in Front‎, number 171, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 40:

     Top tip: Bowling gloves are for sissies, although they look metal as fuck.

• heavy metal

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

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

metal m (definite singular metali)

1. (chemistry) metal

• “metal” on fjalorthi.com
• metal in Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe at shkenca.org

From Latin metallum, from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon).

metal m (plural metals)

1. metal

• Bal Palazios, Santiago (2002), “metal”, in Dizionario breu de a luenga aragonesa, Zaragoza, →ISBN

From Latin metallum, from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon).

metal m (plural metales)

1. metal

metal m (plural metaloù)

1. metal

• heavy-metal

From English metal. Doublet of metall.

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.təl/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.tal/

metal m (uncountable)

1. (music) metal

• “metal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɛtal]

metal

1. masculine singular past participle of metat

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

• IPA^(key): /metal/, [meˈtˢal]

metal n (singular definite metallet, plural indefinite metaller)

1. metal

• “metal” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “metal” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Borrowed from English metal.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.təl/

• Audio

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• Hyphenation: me‧tal

metal m (uncountable)

1. (music) metal (rock genre)

   Synonym: heavy metal

• metalband

• metaal

• métal

• IPA^(key): /me.tal/

• Audio (Switzerland)

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metal m (uncountable)

1. metal (music style)

• metal chrétien

Borrowed from English metal.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.tal/[1]
• Rhymes: -ɛtal
• Hyphenation: mè‧tal

metal m (invariable)

1. (music) metal

   Synonym: heavy metal

• metallaro

• malte

• matall, mataylle, metail, metaille, metall, metalle, metel, metell, metelle, mettall, mettel

Borrowed from Old French metal, from Latin metallum, from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon).

• IPA^(key): /mɛˈtaːl/, /ˈmɛtal/, /ˈmɛtəl/

metal (plural metalles)

1. metal (class of elements)
2. metalwork (metal item)
3. (mining) metal, ore
4. (heraldry, rare) metal (class of tinctures)

• English: metal, mettle
• Scots: metal
• → Welsh: metel

• “metal, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

metal m (plural metaulx)

1. metal

• metau

From Latin metallum, from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon). Attested from the 12th century.[1]

• Audio (Béarn)

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metal m (plural metals)

1. metal

• metallic
• metallurgia

• Joan de Cantalausa (2006) Diccionari general occitan a partir dels parlars lengadocians‎, 2 edition, →ISBN, page 644.

From Latin metallum, see above.

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

1. metal (material)

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

• IPA^(key): /meˈtal/

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.

• Spanish: metal

• IPA^(key): /meˈtal/

metal m (plural metaj)

1. metal

• metàlich

Borrowed from Latin metallum.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.tal/

• Audio

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• Rhymes: -ɛtal
• Syllabification: me‧tal

metal m inan

1. metal

   Antonym: niemetal

2. (heraldry) metal

• metal in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• metal in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese metal, from Old Spanish metal, from Old Catalan metall, matall, from Latin metallum (“metal, mine, quarry, mineral”), from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon, “mine, quarry, metal”).

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: me‧tal

metal m (plural metais)

1. (chemistry) metal (any of a number of elements that form a metallic bond with other metal atoms)

   Antonyms: não-metal, ametal

2. metal (any of a number of a number of hard but malleable materials consisting of metallic atoms)
3. (poetic) money; wealth; riches

   Synonyms: riqueza, dinheiro

4. (heraldry) white (argent) or yellow (or) tincture on a coat of arms

• metálico

Unadapted borrowing from English metal.

metal m (uncountable)

1. (music) metal; heavy metal

   Synonym: heavy metal

From French métal or German Metall.

• IPA^(key): /meˈtal/

metal n (plural metale)

1. metal

• metalic

• metal in DEX online - Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

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

mètāl m (Cyrillic spelling мѐта̄л)

1. (chemistry) metal

   Synonym: kovina

métał

1. masculine singular l-participle of metáti

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

• IPA^(key): /meˈtal/ [meˈt̪al]

• Audio (Colombia)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: me‧tal

metal m (plural metales)

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

• “metal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

From French métal.

• IPA^(key): /me.tal/

metal (definite accusative metali, plural metaller)

1. metal

metal (definite accusative ?, plural ?)

1. metal