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Glite Dictionary
Wood's metal

Wood's metal

9.2
A soft mixture of metals that melts at a low temperature near 71 degrees Celsius
  • noun
  • /wʊdz ˈmɛtəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : metal de Wood
  • In model making, Wood's metal is popular because it can be easily melted and cast into complex shapes.

Examples

  • The engineers chose Wood's metal for its low melting point when designing the prototype.

  • Due to its low melting temperature, Wood's metal is often used in die-casting applications.

  • Wood's metal

    Academic text (2004)

Synonyms

Wood's alloy
vsWood's metal
  • Specialized
9.0

A soft metal mix that melts at low heat and is used to make fuses and molds

gives a specific proportion showing about half bismuth rather than a general composition

Surface Forms

Wood's metal singular
Wood's metals plural

Morphology

Wood's + metal

The phrase combines a possessive proper name ('Wood's') with 'metal', so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would correctly infer it denotes some kind of metal associated with Wood. However, they could not predict the specific property that it is a particular fusible, low‑melting alloy or its constituent elements, so the meaning is only partially derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Wood's metal was named after Barnabas Wood and refers to a mix of metals that melts at low heat. So the metal literally turns to liquid easily, and the name now means 'a low-melting alloy'.