road metal

noun British.

broken stone, cinders, etc., used for making roads.

Origin of road metal

First recorded in 1810–20

Also called metal.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for road metal

Historical Examples of road metal

One's first thought was that at least a bit of road-metal might have been put upon it.
Ruggles of Red Gap
Harry Leon Wilson
To be converted into road-metal has doubtless been its fate.
Highways and Byways in The Border
Andrew Lang
Then the excavations had been filled up again, and the road-metal carts had come.
Mushroom Town
Oliver Onions
Six trips were run during the day, and 69 tons of coal and road-metal were transported.
Minimum Gauge Railways
Arthur Heywood
It does not break up the given material into road-metal and gravel, but erects a building with it.
Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature - 5. The Romantic School in France
Georg Brandes

British Dictionary definitions for road metal

road metal

noun

crushed rock, broken stone, etc, used to construct a road

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012