Search the Dictionary

The native form of a metal, whether free and uncombined, as gold, copper, etc., or combined, as iron, lead, etc. Usually the ores contain the metals combined with oxygen, sulphur, arsenic, etc. (called mineralizers).

A variety of brass made to resemble gold by the use of less zinc and more copper in its composition than ordinary brass contains. Its golden color is often heightened by means of lacquer of some sort, or by use of acids. Called also mosaic gold. Ormolu varnish, a varnish applied to metals, as brass, to give the appeara…

An alloy, chiefly of copper and zinc or tin, resembling gold in color and brilliancy. [Written also oreide.]

A Chinese alloy of nickel, zinc, and copper, resembling German silver.

A piece of Turkish money, usually copper, the fortieth part of a piaster, or about one ninth of a cent.

An English coin, formerly of copper, now of bronze, the twelfth part of an English shilling in account value, and equal to four farthings, or about two cents; -- usually indicated by the abbreviation d. (the initial of denarius).

bstance which is exploded by percussion; an explosive bullet. -- Percussion cap, a small copper cap or cup, containing fulminating powder, and used with a percussion lock to explode gunpowder. -- Percussion fuze. See under Fuze. -- Percussion lock, the lock of a gun that is fired by percussion upon fulminating powde…

iginally consisting of tin with a little lead, but afterwards modified by the addition of copper, antimony, or bismuth.

A small copper coin of Germany. It is the hundredth part of a mark, or about a quarter of a cent in United States currency.

A kind of mica having generally a peculiar bronze-red or copperlike color and a pearly luster. It is a silicate of aluminia, with magnesia, potash, and some fluorine. It is characteristic of crystalline limestone or dolomite and serpentine. See Mica.

riety of bronze possessing great hardness, elasticity, and toughness, obtained by melting copper with tin phosphide. It contains one or two per cent of phosphorus and from five to fifteen per cent of tin.

on of light. [Written also photoglyptic.] Photoglyphic engraving, a process of etching on copper, steel, or zinc, by means of the action of light and certain chemicals, so that from the plate impressions may be taken. Sir D. Brewster.

A small copper coin of the East Indies, worth less than a cent. Malcom.

A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals, as copper and zinc, laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; -- commonly called Volta's pile, voltaic pile, or galvanic pile.

An alloy of copper and zinc, resembling gold; a yellow metal, composed of about three ounces of zinc to a pound of copper. It is much used as an imitation of gold in the manufacture of cheap jewelry.

öl.), any viperine snake having a deep pit on each side of the snout. The rattlesnake and copperhead are examples. -- Working pit (Min.), a shaft in which the ore is hoisted and the workmen carried; -- in distinction from a shaft used for the pumps.

A small copper coin formerly current in Scotland, worth less than a cent. With not a plack in the pocket of the poet. Prof. Wilson.

An iron-black ore of silver, consisting of silver, sulphur, and antimony, with some copper and arsenic.

The metal from which iron pots are made, different from common pig iron. (b) An alloy of copper with lead used for making large vessels for various purposes in the arts. Ure. (c) A kind of stained glass, the colors of which are incorporated with the melted glass in the pot. Knight. -- Pot plant (Bot.), either of the…

which has been previously saturated with a solution of some metallic salt, as sulphate of copper. -- Final process (Practice), a writ of execution in an action at law. Burrill. -- In process, in the condition of advance, accomplishment, transaction, or the like; begun, and not completed. -- Jury process (Law), the p…