Library / English Dictionary

ALLOY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of impairing the quality or reducing the value of something

Synonyms:

admixture; alloy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("alloy" is a kind of...):

impureness; impurity (the condition of being impure)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A mixture containing two or more metallic elements or metallic and nonmetallic elements usually fused together or dissolving into each other when molten

Example:

brass is an alloy of zinc and copper

Synonyms:

alloy; metal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("alloy" is a kind of...):

mixture ((chemistry) a substance consisting of two or more substances mixed together (not in fixed proportions and not with chemical bonding))

Meronyms (substance of "alloy"):

primary solid solution; solid solution (a homogeneous solid that can exist over a range of component chemicals; a constituent of alloys that is formed when atoms of an element are incorporated into the crystals of a metal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alloy"):

Wood's alloy; Wood's metal (a fusible alloy that is half bismuth plus lead, tin, and cadmium; melts at about 160 degrees Fahrenheit)

tambac; tombac; tombak (an alloy of copper and zinc (and sometimes arsenic) used to imitate gold in cheap jewelry and for gilding)

sterling silver (a silver alloy with no more than 7.5% copper)

Stellite (a very hard alloy of cobalt and chromium with cobalt as the principal ingredient; used to make cutting tools and for surfaces subject to heavy wear)

shot metal (an alloy that is 98% lead and 2% arsenic; used in making small shot)

pyrophoric alloy (an alloy that emits sparks when struck or scratched with steel; used in lighter flints)

German silver; nickel silver (a silver-white alloy containing copper and zinc and nickel)

nickel-base alloy; nickel alloy (an alloy whose main constituent is nickel)

Invar (an alloy of iron and nickel having a low coefficient of thermal expansion; used in tuning forks and measuring tapes and other instruments)

Inconel (a nickel-base alloy with chromium and iron; used in gas-turbine blades)

Duralumin (an aluminum-based alloy)

dental gold (an alloy of gold used in dentistry)

copper-base alloy (any alloy whose principal component is copper)

cheoplastic metal (any alloy that fuses at low temperatures and can be used molding artificial teeth)

steel (an alloy of iron with small amounts of carbon; widely used in construction; mechanical properties can be varied over a wide range)

Carboloy (an alloy based on tungsten with cobalt or nickel as a binder; used in making metal-cutting tools)

heavy metal (a metal of relatively high density (specific gravity greater than about 5) or of high relative atomic weight (especially one that is poisonous like mercury or lead))

18-karat gold (an alloy that contains 75 per cent gold)

22-karat gold (an alloy that contains 87 per cent gold)

oreide; oroide (alloy of copper and tin and zinc; used in imitation gold jewelry)

Alnico (trade name for an alloy used to make high-energy permanent magnets; contains aluminum and iron and nickel plus cobalt or copper or titanium)

amalgam; dental amalgam (an alloy of mercury with another metal (usually silver) used by dentists to fill cavities in teeth; except for iron and platinum all metals dissolve in mercury and chemists refer to the resulting mercury mixtures as amalgams)

fusible metal (an alloy with a low melting point and used as solder and in safety plugs and sprinkler fuses)

electrum (an alloy of gold and silver)

pewter (any of various alloys of tin with small amounts of other metals (especially lead))

pinchbeck (an alloy of copper and zinc that is used in cheap jewelry to imitate gold)

pot metal (an alloy of copper and lead used especially for making large pots)

solder (an alloy (usually of lead and tin) used when melted to join two metal surfaces)

white gold (a pale alloy of gold usually with platinum or nickel or palladium)

type metal (an alloy of tin and lead and antimony used to make printing type)

bearing metal; white metal (an alloy (often of lead or tin base) used for bearings)

babbitt; Babbitt metal (an alloy of tin with some copper and antimony; a lining for bearings that reduces friction)

Britannia metal (an alloy similar to pewter)

Derivation:

alloy (lower in value by increasing the base-metal content)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make an alloy of

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "alloy" is one way to...):

blend; coalesce; combine; commingle; conflate; flux; fuse; immix; meld; merge; mix (mix together different elements)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

metallurgy (the science and technology of metals)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lower in value by increasing the base-metal content

Synonyms:

alloy; debase

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "alloy" is one way to...):

devalue (lower the value or quality of)

Domain category:

metallurgy (the science and technology of metals)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

alloy (a mixture containing two or more metallic elements or metallic and nonmetallic elements usually fused together or dissolving into each other when molten)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Pure gold is 24 carat, whilst 18 carat gold comprises 18/24 gold and 6/24 alloy.

(Carat of Gold Alloy, NCI Thesaurus)

Cadmium compounds are used in industry in electroplating and coating, in pigments, in batteries, in alloys, and as stabilizers.

(Cadmium Compound, NCI Thesaurus)

But in sorrow she must be equally carried away by her fancy, and as far beyond consolation as in pleasure she was beyond alloy.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The sole grievance and alloy thus removed in the prospect of Harriet's welfare, she was really in danger of becoming too happy for security.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Besides, that would be all recreation and indulgence, without the wholesome alloy of labour, and I do not like to eat the bread of idleness.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I was silent; Helen had calmed me; but in the tranquillity she imparted there was an alloy of inexpressible sadness.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"We use a liquid metal of gallium and indium — a common, non-toxic alloy called EGaIn — to connect the thermoelectric 'legs'."

(Flexible Wearable Electronics Use Body Heat for Energy, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

There is no alloy of self in what I feel for you.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Hexachloroethane was used as an anthelmintic to treat fascioliasis in cattle and sheep, in refining aluminum alloys, in smoke bombs and pyrotechnic and as a degassing agent and polymer additive.

(Hexachloroethane, NCI Thesaurus)

If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)