Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Alloy"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Alloy \Al*loy"\, v. t.
To form a metallic compound.
Gold and iron alloy with ease. --Ure.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Alloy \Al*loy"\, n. [OE. alai, OF. alei, F. aloyer, to alloy,
alier to ally. See {Alloy}, v. t.]
1. Any combination or compound of metals fused together; a
mixture of metals; for example, brass, which is an alloy
of copper and zinc. But when mercury is one of the metals,
the compound is called an amalgam.
2. The quality, or comparative purity, of gold or silver;
fineness.
3. A baser metal mixed with a finer.
Fine silver is silver without the mixture of any
baser metal. Alloy is baser metal mixed with it.
--Locke.
4. Admixture of anything which lessens the value or detracts
from; as, no happiness is without alloy. ``Pure English
without Latin alloy.'' --F. Harrison.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Alloy \Al*loy"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Alloyed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Alloying}.] [F. aloyer, OF. alier, allier, later allayer,
fr. L. aligare. See {Alloy}, n., {Ally}, v. t., and cf.
{Allay}.]
1. To reduce the purity of by mixing with a less valuable
substance; as, to alloy gold with silver or copper, or
silver with copper.
2. To mix, as metals, so as to form a compound.
3. To abate, impair, or debase by mixture; to allay; as, to
alloy pleasure with misfortunes.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
alloy
n 1: a mixture containing two or more metallic elements or
metallic and nonmetallic elements usually fused together
or dissolving into each other when molten; "brass is an
alloy of zinc and copper" [syn: {metal}]
2: the state of impairing the quality or reducing the value of
something [syn: {admixture}]
v 1: lower in value by increasing the base-metal content; of
metals [syn: {debase}]
2: make an alloy of (metals)
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