type metal

American  

noun

1. an alloy for making printing types, consisting chiefly of lead and antimony, and sometimes small quantities of tin, copper, etc.

---

type metal British  

noun

1. printing an alloy of tin, lead, and antimony, from which type is cast

---

Etymology

Origin of type metal

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

Orphaned at 14, he worked during his high-school years first as a houseboy, then as a "pig boy," moving type metal in the composing rooms of the Los Angeles Times.

From Time Magazine Archive

As editor of a crusading weekly back in the 1930s, New Mexico Newsman Will Harrison made so many enemies that he took to carrying a hunk of type metal for self-defense.

From Time Magazine Archive

But all of them, good & bad, what with loss of manpower, type metal rationing, impending reduced newsprint and drastic losses in advertising revenue, have found themselves pinched tight.

From Time Magazine Archive

There are half a dozen others of the Builder race, and one of the new type metal persons.”

From B-12's Moon Glow by Stearns, Charles A.

The back of this thin sheet is then covered with molten lead or type metal to fill up any depressions and to give it sufficient strength.

From Marvels of Scientific Invention An Interesting Account in Non-technical Language of the Invention of Guns, Torpedoes, Submarine Mines, Up-to-date Smelting, Freezing, Colour Photography, and many other recent Discoveries of Science by Corbin, Thomas W.