pinchbeck
- noun
- /ˈpɪnʧˌbɛk/
- Archaic
:
pinchbeck
- The ring he bought was only pinchbeck, but it sparkled just like real gold.
Examples
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This necklace is made of pinchbeck, so it looks like gold but is much cheaper.
-
As author Daniel Pinchbeck pointed out in Arthur's debut issue last fall, magic is afoot in the world.
Blog text (22) -
Wearing a corbeau leotard beneath a kind of loose-waisted cotton dirndl and on one wrist a great many bracelets of pinchbeck copper.
Fiction book (1997) -
Many costume jewelry pieces are crafted from pinchbeck to imitate the appearance of gold.
Synonyms
A metal made from copper and zinc that looks like gold in cheap jewelry
A metal made from copper and zinc used to look like gold in cheap jewelry
A reddish brass metal often used for cheap jewelry and fittings
A type of brass with more copper used for items that need a reddish gold look
Antonyms
How Golden
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pinchbeck comes from a London clockmaker, Christopher Pinchbeck, who in the early 1700s made a cheap metal that looked like gold. So pinchbeck now names that gold-like alloy and means a 'cheap imitation' of real gold.