gunmetal

== English == === Etymology === From gun +‎ metal. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɡʌnmɛt(ə)l/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɡʌnmɛt(ə)l/, /-ɾ(ə)l/ Hyphenation: gun‧me‧tal === Noun === gunmetal (countable and uncountable, plural gunmetals) (historical) A type of bronze used for making cannons. An alloy of 88% copper, 10% tin and 2% zinc, originally used for making guns. 1984, D[onald] A. Wight, “Materials”, in C[hristopher] T. Wilbur and D. A. Wight, Pounder’s Marine Diesel Engines, 6th edition, London: Butterworths, reprinted 1986, →ISBN, page 593: Gunmetals are alloys of copper, tin and zinc, formerly used for casting cannon. With lead additions they become suitable as bearing materials and are called leaded gunmetals (the US term is leaded red brass); they are quite often misnamed bronzes. (also attributive) A dark grey or bluish-grey colour; gunmetal grey. ==== Alternative forms ==== gun metal, gun-metal ==== Synonyms ==== (alloy of copper, tin and zinc): red brass (US) (colour): gunmetal gray, gunmetal grey ==== Derived terms ==== gunmetal grey gunmetal-grey (adjective) ==== Translations ==== === Further reading === gunmetal on Wikipedia.Wikipedia