1538 T. Elyot Dict. Addicion Aridus homo, a drye felowe, of whom no thynge may be goten: som do call hym, a pelt, or a pynchebeke.

1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum sig. Zi^v Pynchebecke and pelte.

1734 H. Fielding Intrig. Chambermaid i. vii. 16 He said..that the Nobility and Gentry run so much into Pinchbeck, that he had not dispos'd of two Gold Watches this Month.

1797 R. Robison Let. 13 Apr. in E. Robinson & D. McKie Partners in Sci. (1970) 270 My Candle sticks are of vulgar pinchbeck.

1812 H. Davy Elements Chem. Philos. 419 United to zinc, copper produced Dutch gold, Rupert's metal and pinchbeck—from a third to a twelfth of zinc is used, the paler the alloy required the larger the quantity of zinc.

1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 708 Pinchbeck.—No. 1. 5 oz. of pure copper, and 1 oz. of zinc... Some use only half this quantity of zinc, in which proportion the alloy is more easily worked, especially in the making of jewellery.

1845 S. Judd Margaret i. x. 64 Many wore ear-hoops of pinch-beck, as large as a dollar.

1885 R. Buchanan Annan Water xxv He wore a massive chain of gold or pinchbeck.

1978 Christie's Internat. (Geneva) Sale Catal.: Fine Objects of Vertu 25–26 Apr. 17 Another, entirely in pinchbeck, chased with two figures.

1990 Good Housek. (U.K. ed.) May 211/3 Around her neck Vivienne wears..a charming little seal made of pinchbeck (a sort of fake gold) and agate.

1847 Southern & Western Lit. Messenger & Rev. June 371/2 How would not such a romance by the great master have contrasted with Bulwer's pinchbeck and frippery.

1859 W. M. Thackeray Virginians xxii Those golden locks were only pinchbeck.

1890 Spectator 24 May Is it necessary..that the pinchbeck as well as the gold left behind him by this voluminous writer, should be preserved?

1988 Daily Tel. 28 Dec. 11/1 Time, television and overcrowding have reduced their grandeur to fake fur and pinchbeck.

1743 H. Fielding Jonathan Wild i. x, in Misc. III. 59 His Buckles were a large Piece of Pinchbeck Plate, which almost covered his whole Foot.

1753 J. Cooke in J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea I. liv. 360 Gold silver and pinchbeck snuff-boxes.

1804 J. B. Scott Diary in E. Mann Englishman at Home & Abroad (1930) i. 25 Father gave me a gold watch, which cost £22, but..it involved giving up my old pinchbeck one which had been my mother's.

1849 C. Brontë Shirley I. ii. 27 He has a sort of pinchbeck watch; ditto, ring.

1901 F. Norris Octopus ii. i. 313 The Russian countess gave talks on the prisons of Siberia, wearing the headdress and pinchbeck ornaments of a Slav bride.

1997 Times (Nexis) 3 July Tiaras are the talk of the town, and Cronan has a French pinchbeck cornucopia-shaped tiara (c. 1830), overflowing with butterflies.

1790 H. Walpole Let. 12 July (1944) II. 87 Madame de St. Alban, who you know is a pinchbeck-niece of mine..was arrested..and had all her papers seized.

1845 N. P. Willis Dashes at Life with Free Pencil 109 She had, beside, a kind of pinchbeck smartness, and these two gifts, and perhaps the name of Corinna, had inspired her with the idea that she was an improvisatrice.

1877 J. A. Symonds Reviv. Learning in Renaissance in Italy viii. 505 A pinchbeck age of poetry.

1910 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 544/1 The man was a very pinchbeck brigand, or he was telling the truth for once in his desperate straits for money.

1987 J. A. McArdle Sin Embargo 629 The contrast between the glitter of the gilded calves that had been foisted on the masses and the pinchbeck reality.

1851 F. Lieber et al. Encycl. Americana XI. 240/1 Color olive-green and blackish-green, inclining to pinchbeck-brown upon the perfect faces of cleavage.

1879 F. Rutley Study of Rocks x. 119 The colour is..brownish-green, or pinchbeck-brown.