metal Definition

metal
noun

1. Any of a class of chemical elements with certain shared characteristic properties, most being shiny, malleable, ductile and good conductors of heat and electricity, and all (except mercury) being solid at room temperature. See also alloy, ore.
2. road metal.
3. The rails of a railway.

Form: metals

adj

1. Made of, or mainly of, metal.

verb metalled, metalling, metaled, metaling

1. To fit or cover something with metal.
2. To make or mend (a road) with small, broken stones.

Derivative: metallic

Made of metal.

Characteristic of metal, eg in sound or appearance.
Thesaurus: hard, iron, steely, leaden, silvery, golden, tinny, clanging, rasping, grating, ringing, resonant, resounding, plangent.

Derivative: metallically
adverb

See also mettle.

Etymology: 13c: French, from Greek metallon mine.