Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An alloy of silver and gold.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A word used by Greek (
η%27λεκτρον ) and Latin (electrum) authors with various meanings at various times. From the time of Herodotus on its most common meaning in Greek was ‘amber,’ but it was also used for ‘pure gold,’ as by Sophocles. The Romans used electrum with the meaning of ‘amber,’ also as designating an alloy, which might be either natural or artificial, of silver and gold (Pliny gives the amount of silver present in electrum at one fifth of the whole). Later on, electrum was confounded with orichalc (which see), and in the middle ages had acquired the definite meaning of ‘brass.’ At all times, and especially among the Latin writers, there was more or less uncertainty in regard to the meaning of this word, and there was a tendency among both Greeks and Romans to use it just as adamant was frequently used, namely, as designating some ideal, imperfectly known substance possessed of almost miraculous properties. - n. Native argentiferous gold in which the silver amounts to one third or more.
Wiktionary
- n. obsolete Amber.
- n. An alloy of gold and silver, used by the ancients; now specifically a natural alloy with between 20 and 50 per cent silver.
- n. German silver plate.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Amber.
- n. An alloy of gold and silver, of an amber color, used by the ancients.
- n. German-silver plate. See German silver, under German.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an alloy of gold and silver
Etymologies
- From Latin electrum, from Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Latin ēlectrum, amber, from Greek ēlektron. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The left one is electrum, which is poisonous to demons, and the right one is blessed iron, in case I run across any unfriendly vampires or even faeriesfaeries hate iron.”
Simon & Schuster: The Mortal Instruments: Book One: City of Bones
“A natural alloy of gold containing 20 per cent silver, termed electrum, is the lowest grade of the noble metal.”
Getting Gold: a practical treatise for prospectors, miners and students
“Silver was found in even greater abundance, both in ornaments and in vessels; besides which there were articles in electrum, which is an amalgam of silver with gold.”
“The Septuagint and Vulgate translate it, "electrum";”
“When Ramses II was over eighty he celebrated his rejuvenation at the feast of Set, repeating it yearly until he was ninety and more, and displaying his power of rejuvenation to the Gods above in the Obelisks he regularly erected as a memorial, which the aged Pharaoh decorated with electrum at the top so that their brightness should pour over lands of Egypt when the sun was mirrored in them.”
The Wall Street Journal: Rebellion in the Land of the Pharaohs
“I believe this means the hoard of treasure on which he sleeps at night is 6 gold pieces, 2 silver, and 3 electrum smaller than first estimated, and that his enchanted Turtleneck of Mediocrity is probably working at only +3 instead of an Industry-Killing +6.”
“As a child, I was filled with wonderment at my first encounter with electrum coins, potions of diminution, and lycanthropic foes.”
“Every nail used to hammer the beams together is made of silver, iron, or electrum.”
“I thought it was quite pretty until he told me that the fabric is edged with electrum, as sharp as a razor.”
“Voices -- made of thinnest platinum -- that sang, the calls and flutings of invisible birds, nacre-spun nightingales and hawks of hollow electrum.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘electrum’.
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TECH - metals and alloys
embrittle, braze, nickel alloy, metallize, Inconel, eutectic, metalize, vapor pressure, corrosion-resistant, alloy, stainless steel, neutron flux and 262 more...
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LIT - Odyssey - key words and phrases
Key words of the Odyssey by Homer in English including all those famous repeating epitethons like
"bright-eyed Athene"
"wine-dark sea"
"rosy-fingered dawn"
"long suf...Odysseus, sea, Athene, goddess, land, Achaean, wind, wave, Ithaca, lead, Poseidon, mortal and 732 more...
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Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 521 more...
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Logodaedalus' Lexical Locutionary
Discombobulating the illiterate since the middle of the last century.
adiaphora, agitprop, alliteration, apophthegm, autarky, bête noire, bezoar, biorhythm, braggadocio, canaille, confabulate, confrère and 339 more...
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I, Claudius
Words taken from I, Claudius by Robert Graves.
evocation, aureus, sestertii, denarii, assegai, pilum, framea, sibyl, propitiatory, duenna, tyrannicide, maggoty and 136 more...
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favorite words
sawbones, grackle, celadon, brio, loam, trull, mint, saliva, serape, frisson, impasto, reek and 557 more...
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Having: C; m; e
Goodies pulled from a list I've compiled of most-every word having these letters in common — It's going take to take a long, long time to actually get through (and I may want to extend it lat...
chamber, chimney, compesce, imperch, ipom�ic, lambency, premier cru, recumbence, simnelcake, succumbence, umbeschew, almacle and 631 more...
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use•ful
palmary, glossolalia, bothum, high-proof, synesthesia, odious, autochthonous, yawp, mordacious, dynamo, dishevel, titely and 414 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1408 more...
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Gums & Resins
Naturally occurring gums and resins.
amber, copal, dammar, mastic, sandarac, ammoniacum, gamboge, elemi, scammony, myrrh, turpentine, copaiba and 155 more...
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Anthrolocution
Work-related words.. It can have anything to do with human anatomy, linguistics, academic social structures, or archaeological artefacts.
mastoid process, formative, bioarchaeology, external auditory..., zygomatic, squamous, osteology, core-periphery po..., hegemony, niche, epicondyle, iliac and 61 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for electrum.
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