Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of numerous silver-gray alloys of tin with various amounts of antimony, copper, and sometimes lead, used widely for fine kitchen utensils and tableware.
- n. Pewter articles considered as a group.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An alloy of four parts of tin with one of lead. Its tenacity and fusibility are greater than those of either of the metals of which it is composed. It is used chiefly for beer-pots and cheap tableware. If a larger proportion of lead is used, the alloy is liable to corrosion, and dangerous consequences may result from its use. Sometimes alloys consisting chiefly of tin, and also containing antimony or copper, or both, are called
pewter as well as ‘Britannia metal,” which latter is the more usual name, although no sharp line can be drawn between the two alloys. - n. A vessel made of pewter; a tankard; a beerpot.
- n. Collectively, vessels made of pewter.
- n. Money; prize-money.
- n. A material made of calcined tin, used in polishing marble.
Wiktionary
- n. An alloy of approximately 93–98% tin, 1–2% copper, and the balance of antimony.
- n. historical An alloy of tin and lead.
- n. items made of pewter.
- n. A dark, dull grey colour, like that of the metal.
- adj. Of a dark, dull grey colour, like that of the metal.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A hard, tough, but easily fusible, alloy, originally consisting of tin with a little lead, but afterwards modified by the addition of copper, antimony, or bismuth.
- n. Utensils or vessels made of pewter, as dishes, porringers, drinking vessels, tankards, pots.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of various alloys of tin with small amounts of other metals (especially lead)
Etymologies
- Middle English pewtre, from Old French peutre, from Vulgar Latin *peltrum. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Reaper does everything on site, from sculpting the minis, to casting them in pewter, to sorting, packaging, and shipping out internet orders.”
“That has to be very cool to see your literary creations made corporeal in pewter (and then hand painted!).”
“Different from true pewter, Mexican pewter is primarily aluminum.”
“Dunn spent his first five seasons in pewter before a six-year stint with the Atlanta Falcons.”
Bucs need healthy Garcia in the huddle to take next playoff step
“I have a guess what of truth there may be in that; and you the fair Alchemist, are you not all the richer and better that you know the essential gold, and will not have it called pewter or spelter, though in the shops it is only such?”
The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol. I
“Alchemist, are you not all the richer and better that you know the _essential_ gold, and will not have it called pewter or spelter, though in the shops it is only such?”
The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol. I
“During the late troubles, the treasures of the state, and even the furniture of the palace, had been alienated or embezzled; the royal banquet was served in pewter or earthenware; and such was the proud poverty of the times, that the absence of gold and jewels was supplied by the paltry artifices of glass and gilt-leather.”
“But it is unseemly to see such a Grand Potentate in such a state of decay: the son of Bajazet Ilderim insolvent; the descendants of the Prophet bullied by Calmucs and English and whipper-snapper Frenchmen; the Fountain of Magnificence done up, and obliged to coin pewter!”
“The tin alloy called pewter, which used to contain some lead and now is made with 7% antimony and 2% copper, is not much used today.”
Simon & Schuster: On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
“Pewter is a metal never seen for modern table furnishing, or domestic use in any form to-day; but in colonial times what was called a garnish of pewter, that is, a full set of pewter platters, plates, and dishes, was the pride of every good housekeeper, and also a favorite wedding gift.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pewter’.
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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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Colors
Different words for colors; ex: florid, cerise, claret, etc.
cerise, florid, claret, chartreuse, watchet, argent, tawny, xanthous, rosaceous, ocher, pewter, coquelicot and 3 more...
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Ugliest Sounding Words
List words that sound ugly, regardless of meaning
kumquat, milk, meal, jizz, bubonic, fester, goulash, sasquatch, carbuncle, sieve, onomatopoeia, burlesque and 29 more...
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Colors
cerise, carnelian, florid, claret, watchet, rosaceous, coquelicot, vermilion, celadon, nacreous, lapis, viridescent and 132 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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Color Words for Shoes
Vendors can get oddly creative.
amaranth, brindle, iguana, slate black, madder brown, bison, pinecone, seal brown, forest night, burnt orange, monument, beet red and 399 more...
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Lillyjames's Words
uncategorized words that I enjoy
replete, unabashed, dauntless, ubiquitous, fanged, blush, flush, murmur, mercurial, dishevelled, decrepit, raven and 146 more...
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Colors
Words for colors, including things so associated with a color that they can be used in reference to a color.
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, purple, navy, lavender, turquoise, chartreuse and 218 more...
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Flutter
tuberose, golden apple, apple cider, unicorn, extraordinary, Pleiades, Merope, speckle, glitter, rose, pitter-pat, whale and 314 more...
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Words I'd Like to Use Someday
thundersnow, phantasmagoria, mercurial, chimerical, taciturn, paraclete, lapis lazuli, flay, guttersnipe, wonky, misanthrope, kestrel and 583 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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Chromonyms
These chromonyms are defined as colors in at least one dictionary (mostly MW3). (Actually there's one fake, for reasons I'll explain someday.) They are all one-word nouns such as "kelly", which can...
absinthe, acacia, acorn, alabaster, alesan, almond, aloma, amaranth, amber, amethyst, anemone, anil and 821 more...
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thricedotted's Words
schadenfreude, vanquish, calumny, obsequious, rhapsody, expostulate, promontory, bordello, quintessence, catharsis, recapitulation, myriad and 937 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, P
pellucid, pertain, pampas, prate, pinecone, philistine, pantocrator, papaverine, postmeridian, potlatch, pharology, pinniped and 622 more...
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wordrainbow
A big list of color names for use on wordrainbow.com
emerald, cherry, coffee, cream, almond, gold, kiwi, green, grass green, aquamarine, beet red, sepia and 714 more...
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trufutant's Words
conundrum, nonsense, foolishness, swell, cacophony, grizzled, hoary, despot, bloke, ravenous, sot, quirt and 83 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pewter.

hernesheir "The heart case of Richard Coeur de Leon was found at Rouen in 1838, and that of Charles V in 1862, and one has been found at Holbrook in Suffolk. All these these seem to have been made of pewter." -- H. J. L. J. Massé, The Pewter Collector - A Guide to English Pewter with some Reference to Foreign Work, 1921, p 117. Dec 30, 2011
frogapplause Nice glossary of pewter terms here. Jun 15, 2010