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Definition: Metal |
MetalAdjective1. Containing or made of or resembling or characteristic of a metal; "a metallic compound"; "metallic luster"; "the strange metallic note of the meadow lark, suggesting the clash of vibrant blades"- Ambrose Bierce. Noun1. Any of several chemical elements that are usually shiny solids that conduct heat or electricity and can be formed into sheets etc. 2. A mixture containing two or more metallic elements or metallic and nonmetallic elements usually fused together or dissolving into each other when molten; "brass is an alloy of zinc and copper". Verb1. Cover with metal. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "metal" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1120. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | METAL 1. Mega-Extensive Telecommunications Applications Language. BBS language for PRODOS 8 on Apple II. 2. The syntax-definition formalism of the Mentor system. Metal specifications are compiled to specifications for a scanner/parser generator such as Lex/Yacc. "Metal: A Formalism to Specify Formalisms", G. Kahn et al, Sci Comp Prog 3:151-188 (1983). Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing. |
Metallurgy | An opaque lustrous elemental substance. It conducts electricity and can be heated to a melting point and will form positive ions in solution. As temperature increases, conductivity decreases. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | In most cases, an opaque, lustrous, elemental substance that is a good conductor of heat and electricity. It is also malleable and ductile, possesses high melting and boiling points, and tends to form positive ionsin chemical compounds. (references) |
Physics | Used by astrophysicists to refer to all elements except hydrogen and helium, as in: "the universe is composed of hydrogen, helium and traces of metals". (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Heavy metal can mean:
- In chemistry, elements of a particular range of atomic weights, see heavy metals
- In music, a rock music subgenre, see heavy metal music
- An American fantasy magazine, see Heavy Metal magazine
- A movie based on the magazine, see Heavy Metal (movie)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Heavy metal."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Heavy Metal is a form of rock music characterized by aggressive, driving rhythms, highly amplified guitars, and often dark thematic elements.
Heavy metal is an evolutionary product of pop, blues and classical music. Its first wave, between 1967 and 1974, was a product of pop and blues, while the classical element came to the fore in the later 1970s. By approximately 1990 most heavy metal had evolved into other hard rock genres, notably grunge.
The origin of the term heavy metal is uncertain. According to one version, it was coined by a critic for Rolling Stone Magazine, who in 1967 said that the music of Jimi Hendrix was "like heavy metal falling from the sky". Others references have been the words "heavy metal thunder" in the 1968 Steppenwolf song "Born to be Wild", or the William S. Burroughs story "The Heavy Metal Kid". The word "heavy" (meaning serious or profound) had entered beatnik/counterculture slang some time earlier, and references to "heavy music" -- typically slower, more amplified variations of standard pop fare -- were already common; indeed, Iron Butterfly's 1968 debut album was entitled Heavy. The fact that Led Zeppelin (whose moniker came partly in reference to Keith Moon's jest that they would "go over like a lead balloon) incorporated a heavy metal into its name may have sealed the usage of the term.
Regardless of its origin, heavy metal may have been used as a jibe initially but was quickly adopted by its adherents. Other, already-established bands, such as Deep Purple, who had origins in pop or progressive rock, immediately took on the heavy metal mantle, adding distortion and additional amplification in a more aggressive approach.
The explosion of guitar virtuosity founded in the leadership of pioneer Jimi Hendrix a music generation earlier was ushered to the fore by Eddie Van Halen, and many consider his 1978 solo appropriately called Eruption as the significant new dawn in heavy metal history. Ritchie Blackmore (formerly of Deep Purple), Randy Rhodes (w/ pioneer Ozzy Osbourne) and Yngwie Malmsteen went on to solidify this explosion of virtuoso guitar work. All of a sudden, classical guitars, even nylon-stringed guitars, were commonplace at heavy metal concerts, and classical icons such as Liona Boyd became associated with the heavy metal stars as peers in a newly diverse guitar fraternity where conservative and aggressive guitarists could come together to "trade licks" (recently MP3.com featured a collection of Ms. Boyd's music which featured her collaboration with such rock stars as Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and legend Eric Clapton, as further evidence of the open associations that cross musical genre divisions among the respective leaders).
This explosion would cool down in the music of Ronnie James Dio (who himself had a tenure at lead vocals with the legendary Black Sabbath) and continue to settle towards Iron Maiden, who may be the final and complete consummation of "pure" heavy metal in the lineage of the "grandfathers" - Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. After Maiden, metal would push the limits of aggressive loudness in thrash metal, speed metal, black metal and death metal, and return full circle through the pop vanity of the L.A. hair metal lead by Motley Crue to the poppish Bon Jovi. Grunge evolved out of Seattle in the work of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. During the 1980s, hair metal dominated the music charts in much of the world, and superstars like Def Leppard and Guns n' Roses helped lead the way. While their music has endured as representative of a particular view, time and place, hair metal is not typically considered a particularly pure or well-executed form of metal. Grunge music appeared as a popularized endpoint of the punk rock-influenced alternative rock music of the 1990 which fought any mainstream influence (seen as "selling out")articularly reacted against overly-aggressive and increasingly formulaic hair metal bands from Ratt to Extreme.
Cover versions of classic rock songs would become a standard part of many metal bands' repertoire. Notable is Mötley Crüe's version of "Helter Skelter" which very strongly brings to the fore the heavy metal undertones that the Beatles original song implied but failed to explore in their time.
An important element to be remembered is that heavy metal is considered by many to be primarily white, in opposition to the blues-based rock which derives from African-American music. This only means that the majority of the audience and the players are white. There are, however, several examples of bands that have broken this mold and the audiences can be quite mixed -- Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott and Living Colour are good examples, though many point out that these two are the only two examples of black heavy metal musicians to achieve significant, long-term success, and this defense of heavy metal is then denigrated as being a presentation of a few token exceptions, rather than a refutation of the rule.
If the audio/thematic components of heavy metal are predominantly blues-influenced reality, then the visual component is predominantly pop-influenced fantasy. The themes of darkness, evil, power, and apocalypse are fantastic language components for addressing the reality of life's problems. Further, in reaction to the "peace and love" hippie culture of the 1960s, heavy metal developed as a counterculture, where light is supplanted by darkness, and the happy ending of pop is replaced by the naked reality that things don't always work out in this world. While fans claim that the medium of darkness is not the message, critics have accused the genre of glorifying the negative aspects of reality.
Heavy metal themes are more grave than fluffy pop from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, focusing on war, nuclear annihilation, environmental issues, political and religious propaganda. Black Sabbath's "War Pigs", Ozzy Osbourne's "Killer of Giants" are examples serious contributions to the discussion of the state of affairs. The commentary on reality sometimes tends to become over-simplified because the fantastic poetic vocabulary of heavy metal deals primarily with very clear dichotomies of light and dark, hope and despair, good and evil, which don't make much room for complex shades of gray.
As heavy metal gave in to the dark, hopeless despair of reality, it evolved into heavier, more brooding forms like thrash metal and death metal.
Some might differentiate by observing that pure heavy metal doesn't generally sing about love, while many hair metal songs are focused on love. In some respects, one might argue that the hair metal scene of the 80s was the logical endpoint of the glitter or glam rock movement of the 70s; the visual similarities between the two, with the make-up and fanciful costumes, makes the argument more compelling. Glitter rock, however, was lyrically focused on sexual ambiguity, free expression and individuality, while hair metal was unambiguously macho and heterosexual, with little room for diversity of political or social opinions. Ultimately, "pure" heavy metal would position itself at the periphery of pop culture, never quite at center, and metal denizens contend that the move towards the center was a commercialism that compromised both the artistic integrity of the form and the opportunity for messages to be taken seriously.
The Encarta encyclopedia claims that "when a text was associated with the music, Bach could write musical equivalents of verbal ideas". As heavy metal uses apocalyptic themes and images of power and darkness, the ability to translate verbal ideas into musical ideas that successfully convey the ideas of the words is critical to heavy metal authenticity and credibility. An excellent example of this is the theme album Powerslave, by Iron Maiden. The cover is of a dramatic Egyptian pyramid scene, and many of the songs on the album have subject matter that requires a sound suggestive of life and death, including a song entitled "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", based on the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
The American band Grand Funk Railroad epitomised early heavy metal, and set an alternative benchmark in which the volume of the music was seen as the important factor rather than its musical qualities; though this influence is often denigrated as pointless extravagance, it has proven enormously influential and still dominates many people's perceptions of the genre.
Cultural Impact
Heavy metal's bombastic excesses, exemplified by hair metal, have been parodied numerous times, most famously in the movie This Is Spinal Tap. However, see also the phenomenon of the heavy metal umlaut.
Douglas Adams neatly satirised this propensity for excessive volume in The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy with the fictional rock band Disaster Area - creators of the loudest sound in the known universe. It should be noted however, that Adams was satirising Pink Floyd stage shows specifically - rather than metal in general.
Glitter rock, a short-lived era in the mid-1970s, is the extreme exploration of the fantasy-side of the reality-fantasy parents of heavy metal. Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Alice Cooper and Kiss are among the more popular standard examples of this sub-genre.
Punk rock is a related form which arose from some of the pioneers, including The Stooges, Blue Cheer, Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls and The Sex Pistols exploring the politically-charged reality of darkness. Though punk rock and heavy metal began as linked genres of disaffected youth, punk quickly diverged as a reaction against the perceived bombastic arena rock of 1970s heavy metal bands. Heavy metal also had an important influence on grunge which, like punk, was partly a reaction to the slickness and corporate nature of much rock music.
In the early 80s the New Wave of British Heavy Metal made metal music very popular (especially in Europe) with bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motörhead. This period is often considered the pinnacle of the heavy metal form with earlier metal symbolizing the upward slope, and subsequent derivative sub-genres dissolving into distant relatives of the original form. Sub-genres of heavy metal are numerous, though crossovers from other heavy metal and non-metal genres are frequent:
Heavy metal dance styles:
- Thrash metal - a very aggressive and rhythm-based style of metal that includes Slayer, Overkill and early Metallica and Megadeth.
- Power metal - clean vocals and hymn-like choruse, while the lyrics are often based on fantasy or science fiction themes. The most famous bands include Helloween, Blind Guardian and Hammerfall, all of them continental European, and Iced Earth coming from the US.
- Death metal - extreme music with low-pitched guitars and growling vocals. There is no common theme in the lyrics, they range from splatter (Cannibal Corpse) and war (Bolt Thrower) to Christian motives (Mortification). Besides the mentioned, Death, Morbid Angel and Entombed are other important bands.
- Black metal - a precise definition for this style is very hard to give. One approach is strictly based on the lyrics, which are Satanic and otherwise occult. Bands include Mayhem, Darkthrone and Venom.
- Nu metal - newest form of heavy metal, usually features down tuned guitars (7 string guitars are common), sampling artists/DJs and angst-ridden, hip hop-influenced vocals of bands like Korn, Fear Factory, Papa Roach, Staind, Skid Row, Orgy, System of a Down, Drowning Pool and Limp Bizkit.
- Goth metal - fusion of the bleak, icy atmospherics of goth rock with the loud guitars and aggression of heavy metal, finding the middle ground between the two styles in a melodramatic sense of theater and lyrical obsessions with religion and horror. Bands include Theatre of Tragedy, Paradise Lost, Lacrimosa and My Dying Bride.
- Doom metal - inspired largely by the lumbering dirges and stoned, paranoid darkness of Black Sabbath, and one of the very few heavy metal subgenres to prize feel and mood more than flashy technique, doom metal bands include Candlemass, Cathedral and Anathema.
- Epic Metal - lying between doom metal and classical American heavy metal with a balance between slow and solemn hymns and the occasional outburst into powerful mid-tempos, epic metal includes epic and some fantasy; they're not the only themes, however, and lighter elements like bikes, women, and a healthy amount of self-apology are just as frequent. Bands include (early) Manowar_(band), (early) Virgin Steele, Cirith Ungol, Omen and Medieval Steel from the US, some Bathory (the Viking themed albums) from Sweden and more recently DoomSword from Italy.
- Neo-classical metal - the traditional toolbox of metal song-writing is used in neo-classical metal, but with a twist: all of it takes place in a structure that is heavily influenced by baroque music. The chord progressions, arpeggios, broken chords, and speedy scale runs of neo-classical metal are borrowed for the most part from Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi and Niccolo Paganini. Although Yngwie J. Malmsteen is the most well-known proponent of this branch of metal, classical elements used in heavy metal and hard rock date back to Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Eddie Van Halen's innovations in the late 1970s.
- Speed metal - focusing on instrumental virtuosity and featuring riffs and solos played extremely fast, speed metal is exemplified by the twin lead guitars of Judas Priest and Motörhead.
- Progressive metal - combining elements of progressive rock and heavy metal, progressive metal bands include Dream Theater, Symphony X, Stratovarius and DragonForce.
- Glam metal - frequently if derisively known as hair metal, glam focused on stage craft and appearance (leather, spandex, long hair and makeup being very common), and generally used a lot of "feel good" rhythms and catchy lyrics. Bands include Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Skid Row, Poison, Dokken, Greg Howe, Vixen, and Cinderella among many others.
- Christian metal - including a wide range of styles based on many of the genres above but with explicitly Christian lyrics (rather than anti-Christian or merely explicit lyrics).
- Stoner metal - including heavy, sometimes slow and sludgily distorted riffs and the obvious influence of psychedelic music, creating a sound that is strongly reminiscent of the 1970s metal of Black Sabbath, Budgie, and similar bands. Important bands include Cathedral, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, and Monster Magnet.
- Industrial Metal - Fusion of electronic dance music, Techno, and heavy, distorted guitars. Synthesizers and drum machines are heavily used in this sub-genre. Nine Inch Nails, Fear Factory and Rammstein are but a few of the key artists of this genre.
- Hardcore / Metalcore - Raw, charged-up music with influences from Thrash, Death Metal and Hardcore punk. Key artists of this genre are Killswitch Engage, Chimaira, Nothingface and Machinehead.
- Folk metal - not many examples of this genre which comprises of a mix between folk melodies/instruments with the charactersistic powercords of Metal. Skyclad is probably the most known band in this genre. A related genre has evolved in Germany, fusing modern metal and medieval (German) music. Proponents of this genre include Subway to Sally and In Extremo, but they are not well-known outside Central Europe because of their singing in German.
- Viking metal
- Hard rock
- Alternative metal
- True metal - This term was coined in the 1990s, when fusions of metal and techno or metal and hiphop were dominating the charts, and its original use was probably to distinguish between such fusions and the more traditional metal from the 1980s. It is not exactly clear what true metal means - it seems to hover somwhere between epic metal power metal. The term is also misleading because it seems to imply that all other metal genres are "false".
Nicknames for fans of the Heavy metal genre:
- Headbanging
- Moshing
- Crowd surfing
- Stage diving
- Headbanger
- Metaller
- Metalhead
- Hard rocker
- Rocker
See also:
- List of heavy metal musicians
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Heavy metal music."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A metal is an element that readily forms cations and bonds ionically. The metals are one of the three groups of elements as distinguished by their ionization and bonding properties, along with the metalloids and nonmetals. On the periodic table, a diagonal line drawn from boron (B) to polonium (Po) separates the metals from the nonmetals. Elements on this line are metalloids, sometimes called semi-metals; elements to the lower left are metals; elements to the upper right are nonmetals.
Metals have certain characteristic physical properties: they are usually shiny, have a high density, are ductile and malleable, usually have a high melting point, are usually hard, and conduct electricity and heat well. These properties are mainly because each atom exerts only a loose hold on its outermost electrons (valence electrons); thus, the valence electrons form a sort of sea around the atoms. Most metals are chemically stable, with the notable exception of the alkali metals and alkaline earth metals, found in the leftmost two groups of the periodic table.
Nonmetals are more abundant in nature than are metals, but metals in fact constitute most of the periodic table. Some well-known metals are aluminium, copper, gold, iron, lead, silver, titanium, uranium, and zinc.
An alloy is a mixture with metallic properties that contains at least one metal element. Examples of alloys are steel (iron and carbon), brass (copper and zinc), bronze (copper and tin), and duralumin (aluminium and copper). Alloys specially designed for highly demanding applications, such as jet engines, may contain more than ten elements.
The oxides of metals are basic; those of nonmetals are acidic. The allotropes of metals tend to be lustrous, ductile, malleable, and good conductorss, while nonmetals generally speaking are brittle (for solid nonmetals), lack luster, and are insulators.
In astronomy, a metal is any element other than hydrogen or helium. This distinction is significant because hydrogen and helium (together with trace amounts of lithium) are the only elements that occur naturally without the fusion activity of stars. Thus, the metallicity of a galaxy or other object is an indication of past stellar activity.
See also: Metal-rich
Metal is also one of the Chinese five elements, though in that context the word has a much less literal meaning.
Road metal is the name of stone chippings mixed with tar to form the road surfacing material tarmac. A road of such material is called a "metalled road" in British usage. The word metal is derived from the Latin metallum, which means both "mine" and "quarry", hence the roadbuilding terminology.
Metal or Heavy Metal is also a genre of music. See: heavy metal music
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Metal."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In astronomy and cosmology, the term "metal" or metal-rich is used to refer to any element heavier than hydrogen and helium. For example, a nebula that was rich in carbon compounds would be called "metal-rich", even though carbon is not considered a metal in other contexts. Elements heavier than hydrogen and helium are distinguished by having been created by nuclear fusion since the original formation of the universe.Earth's Sun is an example of a metal-rich star.
The term Metal-rich is also called Population I stars.
See also:
- Abundance of the chemical elements
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Metal-rich."
| 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 |
METAL | English | Machine Evaluation and Translation of Natural Language | N/A |
| MESFET | English | Metal semiconductor field-effect transistor | Electrical Engineering |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: MetalSynonyms: metal(a) (adj), metallic (adj), alloy (n), metallic element (n). (additional references) |
| Antonym: nonmetallic (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Deception | Whited sepulcher, painted sepulcher; tinsel; paste, junk jewelry, costume jewelry, false jewelry, synthetic jewels; scagliola, ormolu, German silver, albata, paktong, white metal, Britannia metal, paint; veneer; jerry building; man of straw. |
Materials | Noun: material, raw material, stuff, stock, staple; adobe, brown stone; chinking; clapboard; daubing; puncheon; shake; shingle, bricks and mortar; metal; stone; clay, brick crockery; compo, composition; concrete; reinforced concrete, cement; wood, ore, timber. |
Physical Inertness | Rare gas, paraffin, noble metal, unreactivity. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members, the wiring is substandard, it's completely inadequate for our power needs, and the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone (Ghostbusters; writing credit: Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.) I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years (Pulp Fiction; writing credit: Quentin Tarantino; Roger Avary) It was like a bird of rarest spun heaven metal, or like silvery wind flowing in a space-ship, gravity all nonsense now. As I slooshied knew such lovely pictures (A Clockwork Orange; writing credit: Stanley Kubrick) Too metal. (PCU; writing credit: Adam Leff; Zak Penn) You can get them for free at the coffee shop in those metal cans (Seinfeld; writing credit: Andreas Lenze; Bea Schmidt) | |
Lyrics | Metal Guru has it been (Metal Guru; performing artist: T Rex) Metal under tension (Danger Zone; performing artist: Kenny Loggins) And we're glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife (Paradise By The Dashboard Light; performing artist: Meat Loaf) Heavy metal thunder ("Born to be Wild"; performing artist: Steppenwolf) They like the punk and the metal band (Walk Like An Egyptian; performing artist: The Bangles) | |
Clever | Coins are made by mint of metal. Character is made by dint of mettle. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Heavy Metal Comedy (2002) Metal Perigoso Chumbo (1962) Gammelt metal - nye varer (1942) The Finer Metal (1916) Kissing Metal (2003) | |
Song Titles | Metal Guru (performing artist: T Rex) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References |
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Books |
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Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | An adult black man is pictured here alone. He was diagnosed as having osteogenic sarcoma in his upper left arm. Surgeons performed a new procedure implanting a metal rod in place of the cancerous bone. Since muscle and tendon were saved, he is able to use his left arm. Surgeons could attempt this daring new technique since the cancer had not spread. Credit: Linda Bartlett (photographer). |  | Metal Shop. Credit: NASA. |
 | Metal Workers. Credit: NASA. |  | Low tide - rock shows where vessel struck and then sank Vessel captain claimed to be in mid-channel far from any hazards Paint, metal fragments, and rivets proved differently. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | Turtle excluder device (TED) manufactured by Saunders Marine Machine Shop. The oval metal ring and bars deflect the turtles. The cut in the netting is where the trap door will be placed. The bars force a turtle to the trap door which will open allowing the turtle to go free. Credit: Fisheries. |  | A copper plant. One of the early treatment methods. A concrete trough was was filled with metal and then as the mine drainage flowed over it the mine drainage precipitated onto the metal. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |
 | Metal sludge from Spring Creek into Keswick Reservoir. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |  | The Negretti and Zambra deep-sea thermometer with wooden frame and metal case. In: "Report on the Construction and Work in 1880 of United States Fish Commission Steamer FISH-HAWK", by Lieutenant Zera Luther Tanner, U. S. N. United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Part IX. Report of the Commissioner for 1881. Plate XVI, p. 53. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |
 | Plate 3. Clement metallic thermometer - cross sectional schematic of the model at the Oceanographic Museum at Monaco. The model at the museum was constructed by Negretti and Zambra in 1912 after the original made in 1839 by Leander Clement, the clock maker of Rochefort. The thermometer functioned by comparing the expansion (or contraction) of two strips of different types of metal. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |  | Using a metal detector to find coins on Yap. Credit: Small World. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Metal Sandal 1" by Jason Harle Commentary: "This was a sculpture of a sandal done in metals class by my mother in college." | "Metal Rails" by James Ryan Dulay Commentary: "Roller Coaster Structure." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Steel string guitar playing with simple drum bottle and metal percussion. . | | Footsteps walking down a cement hallway and the sound of the closing of a metal cell door which finally clangs shut. |
| Metal door being pulled shut across the cement floor. | | Metal being crushed. |
| A bell being struck with a metal beater. | | A piece of metal falling over. |
| Metal silverware and pots falling to the floor. | | Hammering metal. |
| Banging a metal lid onto a metal trash can. | | Opening metal locker. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Lord Byron | Constancy... that small change of love, which people exact so rigidly, receive in such counterfeit coin, and repay in baser metal. |
William Wycherley | I weigh the man, not his title; 'tis not the king's stamp can make the metal better. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | Again, if he would give his nuts for a piece of metal, pleased with its colour; or exchange his sheep for shells, or wool for a sparkling pebble or a diamond, and keep those by him all his life he invaded not the right of others, he might heap up as much of these durable things as he pleased; the exceeding of the bounds of his just property not lying in the largeness of his possession, but the perishing of any thing uselesly in it. (Second Treatise of Government) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | For bracelets, I invented the substitution of clasps made by bending the metal, for clasps made by soldering the metal |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | They were waiting for the door to open and for the servants to come in, holding the big dishes covered with their heavy metal covers |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | Fifty cents for the weight of the metal. |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | In the left pocket we saw a huge silver chest, with a cover of the same metal, which we the searchers were not able to lift |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Remove the metal canister from the L-shaped plastic mouthpiece. (references) | |
Berylliosis - A lung disease resulting from exposure to beryllium metal. (references) | ||
A small metal or plastic tube is placed into the opening in the eardrum. (references) | ||
Business | The metal content can be recycled. (references) | |
About 1,000,000 tons was exported in 1996, mostly metal scrap. (references) | ||
This interest was in advanced propulsion system and exotic metal research. (references) | ||
Children | Pakistan | Parents reportedly have given children as offerings to Baba Shah Dola, a shrine in Punjab where the children reportedly are deformed intentionally by clamping a metal form on the head that induces microcephalitis. (references) |
Civil Liberties | Congo | Kasongo, who was beaten severely with lashes and metal bars before his March 22 release, never was charged or brought before a judicial official. (references) |
Economic History | Ukraine | Moderate market demand is evident for metal roofing components. (references) |
Human Rights | Kenya | Men work in printing services, car repair, tailoring, metal work, and leather and upholstery work. (references) |
Korea | Visitors to North Korea report observing prisoners being marched in leg irons, metal collars, or shackles. (references) | |
Georgia | Saakashvili implemented a program in which scrap metal from prison facilities was sold to finance construction of this facility. (references) | |
Minorities | Georgia | On July 11, Basilists forcibly entered a Tbilisi apartment building and attacked a Christian bible study group--mostly women and children--with clubs and metal pips. (references) |
Russia | On October 30, in a marketplace near the Tsaritsyno metro station in Moscow, an estimated 100 to 300 youths from Moscow's southern neighborhoods kicked and beat dozens of persons with metal bars, almost all of the victims belonged to ethnic groups from the Caucasus and Central Asia. (references) | |
Political Economy | Georgia | Key exports are scrap metal, manganese, wine, mineral water, and agricultural products. (references) |
Trade | El Salvador | L. Tokens of any metal or alloy that may be used as substitutes for legal coins. (references) |
Azerbaijan | In April 2001, the government published a decree banning the export of scrap metal. (references) | |
Jordan | Exports of scrap metal, mainly steel, aluminum and copper are subject to a fee of JD 25 per ton. (references) | |
Worker Rights | Russia | There continued to be reports of miners removing the supports from mineshafts and selling them for scrap metal. (references) |
Cuba | Prisoners held there were forced to work on farms or building sites; for example, doing construction, agricultural work, or metal working. (references) | |
Bangladesh | In 1999 the ILO Committee of Experts stated that the Government's rejections of several applications for registration by trade unions in the textile, metal, and garment sectors were unjustified. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | DENTIST, n. A prestidigitator who, putting metal into your mouth, pulls coins out of your pocket. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Dennis Miller | Not every errant piece of metal has the potential to kill. |
Louise Ashby | What they do is you have three layers of skull. So they take the top lair of skull and they rebuild it with this, a metal. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Thomas Jefferson | 1801-1809 | The lead mines in that district offer so rich a supply of that metal as to merit attention. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Metal" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.87% of the time. "Metal" is used about 4,620 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) | 99.87% | 4,614 | 2,122 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.09% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 0.04% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 4,620 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name | Country | Name |
| Australia | Metal Manufacturers Limited | Brazil | Mahle - Metal Leve SA |
| France | IMS - International Metal Service SA | Germany | KM Europa Metal AG |
| Greece | Arcadia Metal Industry C. Rokas SA | India | Drillco Metal Carbides Limited |
| Indonesia | Lion Metal Works Tbk Pt. | Japan | Daido Metal Co., Ltd. |
| Malaysia | Press Metal Berhad | Singapore | Compact Metal Industries Limited |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "metal": admiralty Metal ♦ Aich's metal ♦ alkali metal ♦ alkaline metal ♦ article of precious metal ♦ babbit metal ♦ babbitt metal ♦ bare metal ♦ base metal ♦ bath metal ♦ bearing metal ♦ bell metal ♦ Bell metal ore ♦ bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor ♦ block of metal ♦ Blond metal ♦ Box metal ♦ Britannia metal ♦ Cannon metal ♦ cheoplastic metal ♦ clad metal ♦ coarse metal ♦ complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor ♦ composition metal ♦ Dutch metal ♦ Earth metal ♦ etched metal mask ♦ expanded metal ♦ fine metal ♦ fit with metal ♦ French metal ♦ fusible metal ♦ Gilding metal ♦ Glass metal ♦ Gong metal ♦ grid metal ♦ Gun metal ♦ hard metal ♦ heavy metal ♦ heavy metal rock ♦ hot metal ♦ Kingston metal ♦ Leaf metal ♦ liquid metal reactor ♦ Marine metal ♦ Metal and gem therapy ♦ metal arc welding with rod electrodes ♦ metal bar ♦ metal block ♦ metal board ♦ Metal Ceramic Alloys ♦ metal chair ♦ metal channeled lettering ♦ metal detector ♦ metal drum ♦ metal fabrication ♦ metal fatigue ♦ metal filing ♦ metal flow(Pearson type A) ♦ metal flow(Pearson type B) ♦ metal forming ♦ metal framework ♦ metal furniture ♦ metal gasket ♦ metal glove ♦ metal industries ♦ metal insulator semiconductor capacitor ♦ metal leaf ♦ metal mandolin ♦ metal money ♦ metal oxide semiconductor ♦ metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor ♦ metal oxide semiconductor technology ♦ metal plate ♦ metal plating ♦ metal polish ♦ metal positive ♦ metal pot ♦ metal pressing ♦ metal processing ♦ metal products ♦ metal removed ♦ metal removing efficiency ♦ metal ring ♦ metal rock ♦ metal saw ♦ metal scrap ♦ metal screw ♦ metal sheet ♦ Metal toxicity ♦ metal wood ♦ metal work ♦ metal worker ♦ misch metal ♦ Mitis metal ♦ mixed metal ♦ molten metal ♦ monel metal ♦ Monell metal ♦ Muntz metal ♦ noble metal. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "metal": metal-and-leathery, metal-and-light, metal-backed, metal-barred, metal-based, metal-bashers, metal-bashing, metal-bearing, metal-binding, metal-bodied, metal-boned, metal-bound, metal-bucketed, metal-capped, metal-cased, metal-casting, metal-catalysed, metal-ceramic, metal-chased, metal-clad, metal-clipped, metal-co, metal-coated, metal-contaminated, metal-contamination, metal-covered, metal-cutter, metal-cutters, metal-cutting, metal-d, metal-depleted, metal-detectors, metal-etched, metal-finishing, metal-frame, metal-framed, metal-free, metal-glass, metal-grey, metal-grinding, metal-hard, metal-headed, metal-hip, metal-insulator-metal, metal-insulator-semiconductor, metal-ion, metal-legged, metal-ligand, metal-lined, metal-making, metal-mania, metal-metal, metal-oxide, metal-oxide-semiconductor, metal-oxide-semiconductor, metal-oxide-silicon, metal-plated, metal-polyethylene, metal-production, metal-puzzle, metal-rich, metal-rimmed, metal-ring, metal-rod, metal-roofed, metal-semiconductor, metal-sheathed, metal-sided, metal-skinned, metal-sparkling, metal-stud, metal-studded, metal-tasting, metal-tipped, metal-to-ligand, metal-to-metal, metal-using, metal-walled, metal-winged, metal-wire, metal-work, metal-worker, metal-workers, metal-working, metal-working industry. | |
Ending with "metal": all-metal, gun-metal, heavy-metal, hot-metal, non-metal, scrap-metal, sheet-metal. | |
Containing "metal": sheet-metal work, son-of-metal-pipe, vertical-metal-oxide-semiconductor. | |
| 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 |
metal music | 5,645 | metal bed | 562 |
metal | 4,371 | metal sludge | 536 |
cds death metal | 2,892 | 3 eater gear metal snake solid | 505 |
metal gear solid | 2,744 | metal t shirt | 497 |
metal detector | 2,740 | metal shirt | 479 |
metal building | 2,465 | precious metal | 479 |
heavy metal | 1,848 | b b black marduk metal mp3 | 463 |
metal gear | 1,825 | metal stamping | 440 |
3 gear metal solid | 1,602 | metal mulisha | 434 |
metal gear solid 2 | 1,458 | white metal detector | 391 |
