Definition of "metal" [met•al]

• Any of a category of electropositive elements that usually have a shiny surface, are generally good conductors of heat and electricity, and can be melted or fused, hammered into thin sheets, or drawn into wires. Typical metals form salts with nonmetals, basic oxides with oxygen, and alloys with one another. (noun)
• An alloy of two or more metallic elements. (noun)
• An object made of metal. (noun)
• Basic character; mettle. (noun)
• Broken stones used for road surfaces or railroad beds. (noun)
• Any of a number of chemical elements, such as iron or copper, that are often lustrous ductile solids, have basic oxides, form positive ions, and are good conductors of heat and electricity (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• An alloy, such as brass or steel, containing one or more of these elements (noun)
• Type made of metal (noun)
• The substance of glass in a molten state or as the finished product (noun)
• The total weight of projectiles that can be shot by a ship's guns at any one time (noun)
• The total weight or number of a ship's guns (noun)
• Any element heavier than helium (noun)
• Gold or silver (noun)
• The rails of a railway (noun)
• Made of metal (adjective)
• To fit or cover with metal (verb)
• To make or mend (a road) with road metal (verb)

www.Collinsdictionary.com (c) HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2016

• "a charge of a metal must rest upon a field that is of a colour or fur; or, contrariwise, that a charge of a colour must rest on a field that is of a metal or fur, -- that is, that _metal be not on metal, nor colour on colour_."
• "I. ii.313 (17,3) Thy honourable metal may be wrought/From what it is dispos'd] The best _metal_ or _temper_ may be worked into qualities contrary to its original constitution."
• "So ultimately the difference in metal is unimportant compared to basic shooting skill."