4. The substance of which anything is made; material; hence, constitutional disposition; character; temper. Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Shak.
5. Courage; spirit; mettle. See Mettle. Shak.
Note: The allusion is to the temper of the metal of a sword blade.
Skeat.
6. The broken stone used in macadamizing roads and ballasting railroads.
7. The effective power or caliber of guns carried by a vessel of war.
8. Glass in a state of fusion. Knight.
9. pl.
Defn: The rails of a railroad. [Eng.] Base metal (Chem.), any one of the metals, as iron, lead, etc., which are readily tarnished or oxidized, in contrast with the noble metals. In general, a metal of small value, as compared with gold or silver. — Fusible metal (Metal.), a very fusible alloy, usually consisting of bismuth with lead, tin, or cadmium. — Heavy metals (Chem.), the metallic elements not included in the groups of the alkalies, alkaline earths, or the earths; specifically, the heavy metals, as gold, mercury, platinum, lead, silver, etc. — Light metals (Chem.), the metallic elements of the alkali and alkaline earth groups, as sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, etc.; also, sometimes, the metals of the earths, as aluminium. — Muntz metal, an alloy for sheathing and other purposes, consisting of about sixty per cent of copper, and forty of zinc. Sometimes a little lead is added. It is named from the inventor. — Prince's metal (Old Chem.), an alloy resembling brass, consisting of three parts of copper to one of zinc; — also called Prince Rupert's metal.
METAL Met"al, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Metaled ( or ) or Metalled; p. pr. & vb. n. Metaling or Metalling.]
Defn: To cover with metal; as, to metal a ship's bottom; to metal a road.