Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a metal.
  • adjective Containing a metal.
  • adjective Having a quality suggesting or associated with metal, especially.
  • adjective Lustrous; sparkling.
  • adjective Sharp-tasting.
  • adjective Harshly resonant.
  • noun A yarn or fiber made of, containing, or resembling metal.
  • noun A fabric, typically shiny or iridescent, made of such yarn or fiber.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Consisting of or having the characters of a metal; made up of metal or of an alloy.
  • Characteristic of a metal: as, a metallic luster.
  • Having one or more properties resembling those of metals: as, a metallic voice.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to a metal; of the nature of metal; resembling metal
  • adjective (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or characterized by, the essential and implied properties of a metal, as contrasted with a nonmetal or metalloid; conductive of electricity; basic; forming positive ions in solution; antacid.
  • adjective iron in the state of the metal, as distinquished from its ores, as magnetic iron.
  • adjective paper covered with a thin solution of lime, whiting, and size. When written upon with a pewter or brass pencil, the lines can hardly be effaced.
  • adjective (Med.) a sound heard in the chest, when a cavity communicating with the air passages contains both air and liquid.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Made of, appearing to be made of, resembling, or related to metal.
  • noun A metallic color

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a fabric made of a yarn that is partly or entirely of metal
  • adjective containing or made of or resembling or characteristic of a metal
  • noun a yarn made partly or entirely of metal

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin metallicus, from metallum ("metal").

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Examples

  • "Ten fella three times, Billy," Sheldon said encouragingly, though there was a certain metallic rasp in his voice.

    Chapter 2 2010

  • The Japanese Kanji symbol for "luck" in metallic copper fired onto translucent, purple glass.

    Archive 2008-11-01 Zenmomma 2008

  • Since then, the marketing for the assured summer blockbuster has steadily increased as we near its May 2nd release date, so much so I feel like we're drowning in metallic red and gold.

    Discussion: Have We Reached Iron Man Overload? « FirstShowing.net 2008

  • Anyway, I've used hand-dyed fabric for the background, then stitched it with a flame pattern in metallic thread (only one breakage - hoorah), added a strip of sheer fabric (behind the hand) and some yarns.

    Purple day katelnorth 2008

  • The Japanese Kanji symbol for "luck" in metallic copper fired onto translucent, purple glass.

    Tis the Season Already? Zenmomma 2008

  •  I said, touching the thin metallic limbs that surrounded me.

    365 tomorrows » 2005 » September : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2005

  • Atoms of the rare isotope 3He have to form pairs analogous with pairs of electrons in metallic superconductors.

    Press Release: The 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics 2003

  • Their method is applicable to surfaces of solids and is based on the tunneling of electrons from very thin metallic tips to atoms on the surface when the tip is moved at very close distance to it (about 1 nm).

    The Nobel Prizes in Physics 1901-2000 2000

  • Philip W. Anderson made several important contributions to the theory of electronic structures in metallic systems, in particular concerning the effects of inhomogeneities in alloys and magnetic impurity atoms in metals.

    The Nobel Prizes in Physics 1901-2000 2000

  • Even the placing of light elements such as hydrogen in metallic hydrides, or hydrogen, carbon and oxygen in organic substances can be determined.

    The Nobel Prize in Physics 1994 1994

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