metallic

Alternative forms

• metallick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin metallicus, from metallum (“metal”), from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /məˈtæl.ɪk/, /mɪˈtæl.ɪk/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ælɪk
• Hyphenation: me‧tal‧lic

Adjective

metallic (comparative more metallic, superlative most metallic)

1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of metal.
2. Made of or containing metal.
   • a. 1712, William King, “Rufinus: Or, The Favourite”, in The Works of the English Poets, page 374:

     […] and, lo ! a palace towering ſeems, / With Parian pillars and metallic beams.

   • 1878, Sir Norman Lockyer, “On Dissociation”, in Studies in Spectrum Analysis, page 167:

     These chemical distinctions then, to which we have referred, are quite independent of physical condition. For instance, amongst the most metallic of the metals is a gas.

3. (of a sound) Harsh, as if coming from two metals striking one another.
   • 1839, Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, in Tales, London: Wiley & Putnam, published 1846, page 81:

     No sooner had these syllables passed my lips, than—as if a shield of brass had indeed, at the moment, fallen heavily upon a floor of silver—I became aware of a distinct, hollow, metallic and clangorous, yet apparently muffled reverberation.

Noun

metallic (plural metallics)

1. A metallic color
   • 2007 May 24, Karin Nelson, “Keeping Time in Cool Comfort”, in New York Times‎:

     As Robert Clergerie, whose unisex Popée shoe comes in an array of pastels and eye-popping metallics, explained the attraction, “It gives manhood to women.”

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