heavy metal
English
Etymology
The origin of the music genre sense is often disputed; it was used by William S. Burroughs in Soft Machine and Nova Express and various music critics claim to have coined it: Sandy Pearlman,[1] Lester Bangs and Mike Saunders.[2][3]
Noun
heavy metal (countable and uncountable, plural heavy metals)
- (sciences, countable) Any metal that has a specific gravity greater than about 5, especially one, such as lead, that is poisonous and may be a hazard in the environment. (There are many different definitions of what counts as a heavy metal; see Heavy metals for a discussion.)
- (music, uncountable) A genre descended from rock music, characterized by massive sound, highly amplified distortion, and overall loudness, often with extended guitar solos, and lyrics that involve aggressive or fantastic imagery.
- (uncountable) guns or shot of large size.
- (uncountable, figurative) Great influence or power.
Derived terms
- heavy metal umlaut
Translations
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See also
- acid rock
References
- Sandy Pearlman (1968), “Review of the Byrds song “Artificial Energy””, in Crawdaddy
- Mike Saunders (November 12, 1970), “Review of Humble Pie's As Safe As Yesterday Is”, in Rolling Stone
- William Phillips; Brian Cogan (2009) Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal Music, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 3
Further reading
Wikiquote
- Heavy metals on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Heavy metal music on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from English heavy metal.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌɦɛ.vi ˈmɛ.təl/
- Hyphenation: hea‧vy me‧tal
Noun
heavy metal m (uncountable)
- (music) heavy metal
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English heavy metal.
Noun
heavy metal m (uncountable)
- (music) heavy metal
- Synonym: metal
Related terms
- metallaro
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English heavy metal.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈʁɛ.vi ˈmɛ.taw/ [ˈhɛ.vi ˈmɛ.taʊ̯]
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /ˈʁɛ.vi ˈmɛ.taw/ [ˈχɛ.vi ˈmɛ.taʊ̯]
Noun
heavy metal m (uncountable)
- (music) heavy metal (genre of rock music)
- Synonyms: metal, (dated) rock pauleira
Related terms
- metaleiro
Romanian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English heavy metal.
Noun
heavy metal n (uncountable)
- heavy metal
Declension
singular | ||
---|---|---|
n gender | indefinite articulation | definite articulation |
nominative/accusative | (un) heavy metal | heavy metalul |
genitive/dative | (unui) heavy metal | heavy metalului |
vocative | heavy metalule |
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English heavy metal.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌxebi meˈtal/ [ˌxe.β̞i meˈt̪al]
Noun
heavy metal m (uncountable)
- heavy metal (genre of music)
- Synonym: rock pesado
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
Further reading
- “heavy metal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014