alloy

alloy

English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman alai, from Old French aloi, from aloiier, from Latin alligō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæ.lɔɪ/, /əˈlɔɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ælɔɪ, -ɔɪ

Noun

alloy (countable and uncountable, plural alloys)

1. A metal that is a combination of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal.
2. (archaic) A metal of lesser value, mixed with a metal of greater value.

   gold without alloy

   • 1888, Arthur Talbot Vanderbilt, Gold Not Only in Wales, But Also in Great Britain and Ireland: Facts and Figures, page 17

     Many of these coins are preserved at the British Museum, in London, and at the Ashmolean Museum, in Oxford, and are all of pure gold, without alloy, and in a good state of preservation. Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, is also said to have […]

3. An admixture; something added which stains, taints etc.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 20, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     Metrodorus said that in sadnesse there is some aloy of pleasure.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume III, chapter 18:

     The sole grievance and alloy thus removed in the prospect of Harriet’s welfare, she was really in danger of becoming too happy for security.

4. (figuratively) Fusion, marriage, combination.
   • 1986, 1987 Year Book

     SETH KITANGE TELEVISION AND RADIO Upheaval at CBS. […] Bill Moyers, a CBS News commentator and special correspondent, expressed his dismay in an interview with Newsweek in which he said, “Television news has never been pure. It has always been an alloy of journalism and show business.”

Derived terms

• alloy steel
• alloy wheel
• eutectic alloy
• Field's alloy
• high entropy alloy
• high-entropy alloy
• Lipowitz's alloy
• magnesium alloy
• pyrophoric alloy
• shape memory alloy
• skin forming alloy
• superalloy
• ternary alloy
• titanium alloy

 

Translations

metal combined of more elements

Afrikaans: alliasie, allooi Albanian: aliazh (sq) m Arabic: أُشَابَة‎ f (ʾušāba) Armenian: համաձուլվածք (hy) (hamajulvackʿ), համահալվածք (hamahalvackʿ) Asturian: aleación f Azerbaijani: xəlitə, ərinti (az) Bashkir: иретмә (iretmä) Belarusian: сплаў m (splaŭ), сто́пак m (stópak) Bulgarian: сплав (splav) Burmese: သတ္တုစပ် (my) (sattu.cap) Catalan: aliatge (ca) m, lliga (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 合金 (zh) (héjīn) Czech: slitina (cs) f Danish: legering (da) c Dutch: legering (nl) f Esperanto: alojo Estonian: sulam Faroese: málmbland Finnish: metalliseos (fi), lejeerinki (fi), seosmetalli French: alliage (fr) m Galician: aliaxe (gl) m, liga f Georgian: სინჯი (sinǯi) German: Legierung (de) f Greek: κράμα (el) n (kráma) Ancient: χύμευσις f (khúmeusis), κρᾶμα n (krâma) Hebrew: סגסוגת‎ (he) f, סגסוגת \\ סַגְסֹגֶת‎ (he) f (sagsoget) Hindi: मिश्रातु (miśrātu) Hungarian: ötvözet (hu) Icelandic: málmblanda f Indonesian: paduan logam, aloi (id), aliase (id), lakur (id) Italian: lega (it) f Japanese: 合金 (ja) (ごうきん, gōkin) Kazakh: қорытпа (qorytpa), құйма (qūima) Khmer: សំលោហៈ (sɑmloohaʼ) Korean: 합금 (ko) (hapgeum) Kyrgyz: эритме (eritme) Lao: ໂລຫະປະສົມ (lo) (lō ha pa som) Latvian: sakausējums m Lithuanian: lydinys m Macedonian: легура f (legura) Malay: pancalogam, aloi Manx: co-veain f Maori: koranu Mongolian: хайлш (mn) (xajlš) Norwegian: Bokmål: legering m or f Nynorsk: legering f Occitan: aliatge (oc) m Oriya: ମିଶ୍ରଧାତୁ (miśrôdhatu) Persian: آلیاژ‎ (fa) (âlyâž) Polish: stop (pl) m, aliaż (pl) m (archaic) Portuguese: liga (pt) f Romanian: aliaj (ro) n Russian: сплав (ru) m (splav) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: слитина f, легура f Roman: slitina (sh) f, legura (sh) f Sinhalese: මිශ්‍ර ලෝහ (si) (miśra lōha) Slovak: zliatina (sk) f Slovene: zlitina (sl) f Spanish: aleación (es) f Swedish: legering (sv) c Tagalog: balahak Tajik: хӯла (xüla) Telugu: మిశ్రమలోహం (miśramalōhaṁ) Thai: โลหะเจือ (th) (loo-hà-jʉʉa) Turkish: alaşım (tr), halita (tr) Turkmen: ergin Ukrainian: сплав m (splav), стоп m (stop) Uzbek: qotishma (uz) Vietnamese: hợp kim (vi) Volapük: laliad (vo), (obsolete) metalamig

Etymology 2

From Old French aloiier (“assemble, join”), from Latin alligare (“bind to, tie to”), compound of ad (“to”) + ligare (“to bind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈlɔɪ/, /ˈæ.lɔɪ/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪ

Verb

alloy (third-person singular simple present alloys, present participle alloying, simple past and past participle alloyed)

1. To mix or combine; often used of metals.
2. To reduce the purity of by mixing with a less valuable substance.

   to alloy gold with silver or copper, or silver with copper

3. (figuratively) To impair or debase by mixture.

   to alloy pleasure with misfortunes

Translations

mix or combine

Bulgarian: сплавям (splavjam), смесвам (bg) (smesvam), легирам (legiram) Czech: legovat impf, slévat impf, slít (cs) pf Dutch: legeren (nl) Esperanto: aloji Finnish: seostaa (fi) German: legieren (de) Greek: κραματοποιώ (kramatopoió), νοθεύω (el) (nothévo) Hebrew: נתך‎ m (nétekh) Hungarian: ötvöz (hu) Norwegian: legere Polish: stapiać impf, stopić (pl) pf Portuguese: ligar (pt) Slovak: zliať Swedish: legera (sv) Vietnamese: hợp kim (vi)

See also

• alloy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Alloys in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Loyal, Yolla, loyal, yallo