bell metal

American  

noun

1. an alloy of about 80 percent copper and 20 percent tin, sometimes with small amounts of lead and zinc, having low damping qualities and used especially for bells.

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bell metal British  

noun

1. an alloy of copper and tin, with some zinc and lead, used in casting bells

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Etymology

Origin of bell metal

First recorded in 1535–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bell metal

Varying proportions of copper and tin give gun metal, bell metal, babbitt metal and many another alloy, the greater the percentage of tin the harder being the resulting composition.

From Time Magazine Archive

Women of the milkman caste wear bangles of bell metal, often up to the elbow.

From Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals by Sumner, William Graham

The dishes, of bell metal, were placed on the table, and we took our places.

From Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Verne, Jules

A score of clocks in church-steeples, that tower thickly over the City of the Angels, had taken up the cue; and the air of the night vibrated melodiously under the music of bell metal.

From The Bandolero A Marriage among the Mountains by Reid, Mayne

The wheel a b c in the drawings is made of bell metal, and turns in a socket under the stand, which prevents the wheel from sliding from the supporting or friction rolls z, z.

From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Rose, Joshua