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

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

Copper is also used in alloys with other metals, forming an important part of brass, bronze, german silver, bell metal and gun metal.

From Oxy-Acetylene Welding and Cutting Electric, Forge and Thermit Welding together with related methods and materials used in metal working and the oxygen process for removal of carbon by Manly, Harold P. (Harold Phillips)

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 measures, made of bell metal, formerly in use in Sir Richard Musgrave’s manor at Kirkoswald, are still carefully preserved by Mr. John Longrigg, the last steward.

From Bygone Cumberland and Westmorland by Scott, Daniel

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