Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Bronze |
BronzeAdjective1. Of the color of bronze. 2. Made from or consisting of bronze. Noun1. An alloy of copper and tin and sometimes other elements; also any copper-base alloy containing other elements in place of tin. 2. A sculpture made of bronze. Verb1. Give the color and appearance of bronze to something;"bronze baby shoes". 2. Get a tan, from wind or sun. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "bronze" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Metallurgy | Alloy of copper and tin, and sometimes containing other elements which confer special properties. Source: European Union. (references) |
Dream Interpretation | For a woman to dream of a bronze statue, signifies that she will fail in her efforts to win the person she has determined on for a husband. If the statue simulates life, or moves, she will be involved in a love affair, but no marriage will occur. Disappointment to some person may follow the dream. To dream of bronze serpents or insects, foretells you will be pursued by envy and ruin. To see bronze metals, denotes your fortune will be uncertain and unsatisfactory. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Mining | An alloy composed mainly of copper and tin. Various other elements may be added in small amounts for certain specific purposes. A number of copper alloys are referred to as bronzes, although they contain no tin. The American Society for Testing and Materials has classified all copper-based alloys on a basis of composition ranges of the principal alloyingelements. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Roman statuette of bronze
from Swedish Iron Age,
found at Öland
(larger image)Bronze is the traditional name for a broad range of alloys of copper, usually with zinc and tin but not limited to just those metal. First utilized during the Bronze Age, to which it gave its name, bronze was used to produce tools, weapons and armor which proved either more durable or harder than their stone and copper predecessors. During the bronze age, arsenic was often included in the bronze (mostly as an impurity), which made the alloy harder still.
Bronze was still used to a considerable extent during the iron age but for many purposes the weaker iron was sufficently strong to serve. The abundance of iron allowed it to usurp the title as reigning metal. As an example, Roman officers were equipped with bronze swords while foot soldiers had to make due with iron blades.
Bronze is the most popular metal for top quality bells and cymbals, and also for cast metal sculpturess. Common bronze alloys often have the unusual and very desirable property of expanding slightly just before it sets, thus filling the finest details of a mould.
Copper-based alloys have lower melting points than steels and are more readily produced from their constituent metals. They are comparable to steel in density, most copper alloys being only about 10% heavier, while those with a lot of aluminium or silicon may be slightly less dense than steel. Bronzes are softer and weaker than steel, and more elastic, though bronze springs are less stiff (lower energy) for the same bulk. Bronzes resist corrosion (especially seawater corrosion) and metal fatigue better than steel. Bronzes also conduct heat and electricity better than most steels. The cost of copper-base alloys is generally higher than that of steels but lower than nickel-base alloys.
Copper and its alloys have a huge variety of uses that reflect their versatile physical, mechanical, and chemical properties. Some common examples are the high electrical conductivity of pure copper, the excellent deep-drawing qualities of cartridge case brass, the low-friction properties of bearing bronze, the resonant qualities of bell bronze, and the resistance to corrosion by sea water by several bronze alloys.
See also brass, a subset of the bronze alloys in which zinc is the principal additive, and cupronickel, an alloy used on ships.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Bronze."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A Bronze Age is a period in a civilization's development when the most advanced metalworking used bronze. The Bronze Age is part of the Three-age system for prehistoric societies. Most surviving bronze implements are tools or weapons, though some ritual artifacts survive.
The bronze age established a far-ranging trade network. The network imported tin and charcoal to Cyprus, where copper was mined and alloyed with the tin to produce bronze. Bronze objects were then exported far and wide, and supported the trade. Isotopic analysis of the tin in some Mediterranean bronze objects indicates it came from as far away as Britain.
Navigation was well developed at this time, and reached a peak of skill not exceeded until a method was discoved to determine longitude around 1750.
The Minoan empire appears to have coordinated and defended the bronze-age trade.
One crucial lack in this period was that modern methods of accounting were not used, or available. Numerous authorities believe that ancient empires were prone to misvalue staples in favor of luxuries, and perish by famines created by uneconomic trading.
How the Bronze age ended is still being studied. There is evidence that Mycenaean administration of the empire followed Minoan. There is evidence that several Minoan client-states lost large populations to extreme famines or pestilence, so the trade network is believed to have failed at some point, preventing the trade that would have previously relieved such famines and prevented some forms of illness (by nutrition). It is also known that the bread-basket of the Minoan empire, the area north of the Black Sea, lost population and probably some degree of cultivation in this era.
Recent research has discredited the theory that exhaustion of the Cypriot forests caused the end of the bronze trade. The cypriot forests are known to have existed to later times, and experiments have shown that bronze production on the scale of the late bronze age would have exhausted them for charcoal production in less than fifty years.
One theory says that as iron tools became more common, the main justification of the tin trade ended, and the trade network ceased to exist. The indvidual colonies of the Minoan empire then met accidents of drought, famine or war, and had no access to the far-flung resources of an empire to recover.
Another family of theories looks to the explosion of Thera, which occurred shortly before the end of the bronze age. Thera is about 40 miles north of Crete, which was at the time the capital of the Minoan empire. Some authorities speculate that tidal waves from Thera destroyed Cretan cities. Others say that perhaps a tidal wave destroyed the Cretan navy in harbor, which then lost crucial battles with the Mycenaean navy, so that a former colony took over the empire.
Another theory looks to the loss of Cretan expertise in administering the Empire. If this expertise was concentrated in Crete, and simply became discredited by military failure, the Mycenaeans may have made crucial political and commercial mistakes when administrering the empire.
All of these theories are persuasive, and all may have operated to some extent.
- Earlier period: Neolithic
- Later period: Iron Age
In Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from 2500 to 500 BC. The Neolithic (New Stone Age) had just finished and change was significant. First, the climate was deteriorating, forcing the population down from easily-defended sites in the hills to fertile valleys. Also, the burial of dead (which until this period had usually been communal) became more individual. For example, whereas in the Neolithic a large chambered cairn was used to house the dead, the Bronze Age saw people buried in individual cists, sometimes covered with cairn material. Ritual sites also changed, often becoming cruder and smaller as, perhaps, the original meaning became diluted and twisted as it was passed down from generation to generation.
Structures:
Sites:
- Barrow
- Cairn
- Four poster
- Henge
- Hut circle
- England
- Flag fen
- Seahenge
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Bronze Age."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Wikipedia pages with images of bronze sculptures include:
People
- Joseph Wheeler
- Edward Lewis (Bob) Bartlett
- Ernest Gruening
- John Campbell Greenway
- Eusebio Francisco Kino
- George Clinton (politician)
- Erotic art in Pompeii
- Michelangelo Buonarroti, Mary with child
Animals
- Mustangs at Las Colinas
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Bronze sculpture."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| Brz | English | Bronze | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: BronzeSynonyms: bronzy (adj), tan (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Sculpture | Marble, bronze, terra cotta, papier-mache; ceramic ware, pottery, porcelain, china, earthenware; cloisonne, enamel, faience, Laocoon, satsuma. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | All of you won gold, silver and bronze in the Moron Olympics (101 Dalmatians; writing credit: John Hughes) Come to the Bronze before it opens or we'll make her our dinner (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) I want a gold and bronze casket (Oz; writing credit: Pavel Srut) | |
Lyrics | A bronze man still can tell stories his own way (Saturday In The Park; performing artist: Chicago) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Le Bracelet de bronze (1974) Visages de bronze (1958) The Bronze Buckaroo (1939) Gentlemen Prefer Bronze (1999) 18 Bronze Girls of Shaolin (1983) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Consumer Goods |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Paralympic athlete Lauren McDevitt Howard, bronze medal winner, 1996 Paralympic Games. From the book,"Portrait of Spirit: One Story at a Time" by Billy Howard and Maggie Holtzberg. Credit: CDC. |  | Bronze triangulation mark These marks are found throughout the United States and its territories Triangulation marks have known latitudes, longitudes, and plane coordinates. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | Francis X. Popper Observing salinity measurements on the EXPLORER Served in Philippines in WWII and received Silver Star and Bronze Star Medals. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | The Bronze Star Medal eligibility criteria was limited with the Fiscal 2001 National Defense Authorization Act passed by Congress. The Medal will be limited to those people receiving imminent danger pay. (Photo illustration by Virginia Reyes). |
 | [Nurse receiving the Bronze Star] / U.S. Army Signal Corps. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Bronze plaque featuring the ship's insignia. It was presented to Seaman L.J. Marshall, USN, in 1969. The device in the upper left of the insignia design is a microscope straddling a ship's hull. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Chief Gunner's Mate Eugene Metzel, USN, who has served 24 years on board Wyoming, looks at the bronze plaque commemorating her First World War service with the Grand Fleet. Photographed in 1945. Chief Metzel is wearing the World War II era service dress grey uniform. Credit: NAVY. |  | Bronze pins. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Bronze shield. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Incense pan made of bronze; work done by the sculptor Dsanabadsar; XVIIth century. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Little bronze teapot 4" by Annette Gulick Commentary: "Asian-style bronze teapot." | "Bronze Face" by Matt Williams Commentary: "These three-foot tall, alien-like sky gazing sculptures are dotted all over one area of Birmingham's Botanical Gardens, in amongst the bushes plants and shrubs. He looks happy enough though." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Horace | I have built a monument more lasting than bronze. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | The families were in the tents now, and the flaps were down, and the setting sun made the air red and the gray tents bronze. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Abnormal pigmentation of the skin, making it look gray or bronze. (references) | |
Business | Domestic production of pumps and compressors in Ecuador is non-existent, and domestic valve production is limited to iron gate valves and bronze seals. (references) | |
Economic History | Ireland | The Bronze Age people, who arrived during the next 1,000 years, produced elaborate gold and bronze ornaments and weapons. (references) |
Thailand | Recent archaeological studies suggest that by 4000 B.C., communities in what is now Thailand had emerged as centers of early bronze metallurgy. (references) | |
Taiwan | One of Taiwan's greatest attractions is the Palace Museum, which houses over 650,000 pieces of Chinese bronze, jade, calligraphy, painting, and porcelain. (references) | |
Trade | Burma | On November 26, 1999, the Ministry of Commerce issued Order No. 10/99 that lists the following as restricted export items: rice and rice products, white sugar, red sugar and brown sugar, groundnut and groundnut oil, sesame and sesame oil, mustard and mustard oil, sunflower and sunflower oil, groundnut cake, sesame cake, mustard cake, sunflower cake, cotton and cotton products, petroleum, gems and jewelry, gold, jade, pearls, diamonds, lead, tin, tungsten (wolfram), tin-scheelite, silver, bronze, zinc, coal, other metals, ivory, buffaloes, cows, elephants, horses and rare animals, leather, shrimp, bran, arms, ammunitions, antiques and rubber. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Bronze" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 88.09% of the time. "Bronze" is used about 788 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 88.09% | 694 | 9,593 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 11.41% | 90 | 34,744 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 0.38% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.13% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 788 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| United Kingdom | Manganese Bronze Holdings Plc |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "bronze": alpha bronze ♦ Aluminium bronze ♦ aluminum bronze ♦ become bronze ♦ beryllium bronze ♦ bronze age ♦ bronze age man ♦ bronze bronzy ♦ bronze leaf ♦ bronze medal ♦ bronze powder ♦ bronze Star ♦ bronze Star Medal ♦ Bronze steel ♦ leaded bronze ♦ manganese bronze ♦ nickel bronze ♦ phosphor bronze ♦ phosphorus bronze ♦ silicious bronze ♦ silicium bronze ♦ silicon bronze ♦ tobin bronze ♦ vanadium bronze. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "bronze": bronze-age, bronze-bladed, bronze-bound, bronze-casting, bronze-coloured, bronze-covered, bronze-feathered, bronze-founder, bronze-gold, bronze-green, bronze-leafed, bronze-leaved, bronze-lit, bronze-medal, bronze-medallists, bronze-red, bronze-smiths, bronze-streaked, bronze-tinged, bronze-tinted, bronze-using, bronze-winged, bronze-working. | |
Ending with "bronze": gilt-bronze, tin-bronze. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
bronze | 509 | bronze engine placement search | 23 |
bronze sculpture | 254 | bronze foundry | 23 |
bronze star | 185 | body bronze | 23 |
bronze statue | 150 | black bronze | 22 |
bronze casting | 86 | colonial bronze | 22 |
bronze age | 78 | the bronze bow | 21 |
bronze plaque | 72 | bronze valve | 20 |
bronze fountain | 48 | man of bronze | 20 |
bronze art | 44 | belgique bronze | 19 |
bronze baby shoes | 41 | birch borer bronze | 19 |
bronze wolverine | 40 | aluminum bronze | 18 |
remington bronze | 34 | bronze gift | 18 |
bronze sculptor | 31 | bronze shoes | 17 |
bronze bushings | 30 | silicon bronze | 17 |
bronze bearing | 28 | cast bronze | 17 |
bronze star medal | 27 | bronze gazebo | 17 |
bronze company fblc wolverine | 24 | beta bronze | 17 |
cast bronze plaque | 24 | liberty bronze collection | 16 |
bronze horse | 23 | neutrogena instant bronze | 16 |
bronze star recipient | 23 | award bronze girl scout | 16 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "bronze"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | brons. (various references) | |
Albanian | bronz, nxij (blacken, bruise, denigrate, make black, tan, tarnish), nxihem (blacken, get suntanned). (various references) | |
Arabic | لون برونزي, جعل لونه برنزيا, برنز, برونز. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | бронзирам (braze), бронз, почернявам от слънцето. (various references) | |
Chinese | 青銅 , 古铜. (various references) | |
Czech | bronzovat, bronz (tan). (various references) | |
Danish | bronze (copper-tin alloy). (various references) | |
Dutch | bronzen, brons (copper-tin alloy). (various references) | |
Esperanto | bronzo, bronza. (various references) | |
Farsi | مفرغ , مسبار, گستاخی (Arrogance, Assurance, Audacity, Effrontery, Gall, Impertinence, Impudence, Indecency, Insolence, Presumption), برنگ برنز, برنزی . (various references) | |
Finnish | pronssinen, pronssi, pronssata. (various references) | |
French | bronze, bronzer (Brown). (various references) | |
Frisian | brûnzen, brûns. (various references) | |
German | bronze (copper-tin alloy), erz (ore), bräunen (Brown, go brown, tan, tanning, turn brown). (various references) | |
Greek | μπρούντζοσ (prostrate), μπρούτζος (brass), μπρουτζινώνω, επικαλύπτω με μπρούντζο. (various references) | |
Hebrew | ארוד, ארד, ברונזה, נחושת (brass, copper). (various references) | |
Hungarian | bronz (brass, metal). (various references) | |
Indonesian | perunggu, memerahtuakan. (various references) | |
Irish | umha, cré-umha. (various references) | |
Italian | bronzo (copper-tin alloy). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 銅色 , 青銅色 (bronzed), 青銅 , 青銅 , ブロック塀 (blob, blonde, bond, Brocken, bromide, concrete block wall, publicity photograph), 唐金 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ブロンズ , どうしょく (the said occupation, the same color, the same occupation), せいどうしょく (bronzed), せいどう (braking, church, path of duty, path of righteousness, politics, refined copper, sanctuary, temple, the correct path, the right track, vitality), からかね. (various references) | |
Korean | 청동. (various references) | |
Manx | ruyghey (brown, redden, tan by sun), ruy-dhone (dark bay), ooha, jalloo ooha, dhonaghey (bronzing). (various references) | |
Norwegian | bronse. (various references) | |
Papiamen | bròns, di bròns. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | onzebray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | bronze (brass, bushing), bronzear (braze, brown, burn, tan), bronzeado (brown, suntan, tan). (various references) | |
Romanian | bronza (tan), bronz (adamant, gun metal), din bronz, de bronz (brazen). (various references) | |
Russian | бронза. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | bronza, tuč, naneti bronzu. (various references) | |
Spanish | bronce (copper-tin alloy), bronceado (brazen, bronzed, sun tanned, sunburn, sunburnt, suntan, tan, tanned). (various references) | |
Swedish | brons, bronsera. (various references) | |
Turkish | tunç (gun metal). (various references) | |
Turkmen | bьrьnз (rice). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | виріб з бронзи, бронзувати, бронзовий, бронза. (various references) | |
Welsh | pres (brass, copper, money), efydd (brass, copper). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | zabar. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | aenea, aeneae, aeneam, aeneas, aeneis, aeneos, aeneum, aeniolis, aeramento, aeramentorum, aeramentum, aerarii, aerario, aerarios, aerarium, aerarius, aerea, aeream, aereas, aerei, aereis, aereo, aereos, aereum, æneus, æs, aheneus, enam, enos, pyropus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "bronze": bronzed, bronzer, bronzers, bronzes. (additional references) | |
| |
"Bronze" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Bergonzi, bonza, bonzer, bonzo, branze, Brianza, Brienzer, Brogne, brone, Bronnley, brons, bronse, bronz, bronzen, bronzie, bronzier, brooze, Brotzu, browze, broz, broze, Brozie, Bruynse, oborknez, Ronzeo. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "bronze" (pronounced brÄ"nz) |
| 3 | -Ä" n z | cons, batons, dons, Fons, Hons, Johns, Ons, Pons, salons, spawns, swans. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: bonzer. | |
| Words within the letters "b-e-n-o-r-z" | |
-1 letter: boner, bonze, borne, zoner. | |
-2 letters: bone, bore, born, bren, ebon, robe, zero, zone. | |
-3 letters: ben, bro, eon, ern, neb, nob, nor, obe, one, orb, ore, reb, rob, roe. | |
-4 letters: be, bo, en, er, ne, no, oe, on, or, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-e-n-o-r-z" | |
+1 letter: bronzed, bronzer, bronzes. | |
+2 letters: blazoner, bronzers, bronzier. | |
+3 letters: blazoners, bronziest, carbonize. | |
+4 letters: benzofuran, blazonries, carbonized, carbonizes, emblazoner, emblazonry, soberizing. | |
+5 letters: benzofurans, decarbonize, emblazoners, organizable. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Fiction 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Names: Company Usage 14. Expressions 15. Expressions: Internet 16. Translations: Modern | 17. Translations: Ancient 18. Abbreviations 19. Acronyms 20. Derivations | 21. Rhymes 22. Anagrams 23. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
