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▪ I. alloy, n.|ˈælɔɪ, əˈlɔɪ|
Also 6 aloye.
[a. mod.Fr. aloi:—OFr. alei, retained in Norman as alai, allai, whence our earlier word allay n.1, which this Parisian form has since 1600 gradually displaced. Through the erroneous fancy that Fr. aloi was = à loi ‘to law,’ the word, meaning originally simple ‘combination, union,’ came to be used specially of the mixing of baser metal with gold or silver in coinage, so as to bring it to the recognized standard, and hence of the standard itself.]
I. literal.
1. The comparative purity or mixedness of gold or silver; fineness, quality, standard. = allay n. 3.
1604E. G. tr. D'Acosta's Hist. Ind. iv. xii. 245 Silver drawne with Mercurie, is so fine, that it never abates of two thousand three hundred and fourescore of alloy. 1685Morden Geogr. Rect. 396 The Mony of this Kingdom is of a good Alloy. 1871Davies Metr. Syst. iii. 65 The civil authority stamps its image, to authenticate its weight and alloy.
†2. Agio of exchange (? originally an allowance for difference of standard). Obs.
1598Florio, L'aggio, the aloye or losse of money by exchange, coyning, or banke. 1672Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 271 Much after the same current Rate and Standard: only there hath been some little difference in the alloy.
3. An inferior metal mixed with one of greater value; esp. that which is added to gold and silver coinage. = allay n. 2.
1719W. Wood Surv. Trade 345 Half the Silver is taken out, and Copper or other Alloy put into the place. 1860Froude Hist. Eng. V. xxv. 109 Bad shillings, in which 4 ounces of pure metal were mixed with 8 of alloy. 1876Rogers Pol. Econ. xi. 4 Only a practised eye can detect the amount of alloy in an ornament professedly manufactured of gold.
4. The condition of combination between different metals melted together. (Without reference to their relative values.)
1827Faraday Chem. Manip. xx. 508 Making the alloy of the metal and the platina more complete. 1883Nature XXVII. 351 That peculiar..form of association which metallurgists term an alloy.
5. a. A mixture of metals; a metallic compound, an amalgam. Formerly, A compound containing a baser metal. = allay n. 1. Also attrib., as alloy steel.
1656H. More Ant. agst. Ath. (1712) Pref. 20 Whether this be that ancient golden Key..or one made of baser alloy. 1869Roscoe Chem. 185 In the alloys the metallic appearance and properties are preserved. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 572/1 Alloy Steels and Cast Irons are those which owe their properties chiefly to the presence of one or more elements other than carbon. 1922Ibid. XXXI. 927/2 Certain alloy steels..can be rendered (or kept) completely ‘austenitic’..by quenching.
b. native alloy: an alloy of osmium and iridium occurring with native platinum, called also Iridosmine.
1875Ure Dict. Arts II. 918 The native alloy on account of its hardness is used to point metallic pens.
II. figurative.
†6. Intrinsic standard or character, quality, temper, vein. = allay n. 6. (Cf. Fr. de bon aloi.) Obs.
1596Carew tr. Huarte's Trial of Wits 2nd Proeme, If thy wit be of the common and vulgar alloy. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. 13 A Soull of the same alloy as our owne. 1647N. Bacon Hist. Disc. ix. 27 To inhaunce the price of a Presbyter somewhat within the aloye of a Bishop. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 136 Workings of so lofty and refined an alloy.
7. Admixture of that which lowers the character or takes from the value. Hence concr. Alien element, anything that detracts from, impairs, or sullies. = allay n. 4, 5.
1625Bacon Eleg. Sent. Wks. 1860, 193 There's no fortune so good, but it has its alloy. 1712Spect. No. 548 ⁋4 Every one has in him a natural alloy, tho' one may be fuller of dross than another. 1816Jane Austen Emma i. i. 2 Disadvantages which threatened alloy to her many enjoyments. 1849C. Brontë Shirley II. iii. 83 A base alloy of moral cowardice. 1863A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. 166 A face..so spiritualised, so refined from all earthly alloy.
▪ II. alloy, v.|əˈlɔɪ|
[a. mod.Fr. aloyer:—OFr. aleier, alier:—L. alligāre. The north. Fr. form allayer (= alleyer, aleier), whence our earlier allay, long continued to be the standard Fr. form, and is alone found in Cotgr. 1611. Since the 17th c. it has been displaced by aloyer (probably by assimilation to the n., which has been aloi in standard Fr. from an early period: see prec.). In the wake of the Fr., Eng. also has substituted alloy for the Norman allay, first in the n. and then c1690 in the vb.]
1. To mix with a baser metal so as to reduce to a desired standard or quality. = allay v.2 1.
1691Locke Money Wks. 1727 II. 40 Most of the Silver of the World, both in Money and Vessels, being alloy'd (i.e. mixed with some baser metals). 1719W. Wood Surv. Trade 361 Melting of Coin for Bullion, and bringing in Bullion for Coin alloy'd..will be avoided. 1875Ure Dict. Arts I. 93 Gold and silver..when alloyed with a little copper. Ibid. I. 96 The alloy for silver coinage is always copper, and a very pure quality of this metal is used for alloying.
2. To mix metals (without reference to their relative value); to form compounds of two or more metals.
1822[See alloyed 3]. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 30 When we wish to alloy three or more metals, we often experience difficulties.
3. intr. (refl.) To enter into combination with another metal.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 29 One metal does not alloy indifferently with every other metal. 1875Ibid. I. 99 Gold and iron alloy with ease.
4. fig. To mix with something inferior; to lower in degree, debase, contaminate by admixture. = allay v.2 2.
1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) App. 9 Some [heaps of Salt] being exquisitely White, others alloy'd with Dirt. 1832H. Martineau Ella of Gar. x. 117 Their external prosperity was not alloyed by troubles from within.
5. fig. To temper, moderate, modify. Cf. allay v.1
1661Hickeringill Jamaica 10 The heat in the day time being alwaies alloy'd with the Sea Breezes. 1875Ruskin Lect. Art ii. 42 Gentle and submissive persons, who might by their true patience have alloyed the hardness of the common crowd. |