Muntz met·al See under Metal.

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 Met·al n.
 1. Chem. An elementary substance, as sodium, calcium, or copper, whose oxide or hydroxide has basic rather than acid properties, as contrasted with the nonmetals, or metalloids.  No sharp line can be drawn between the metals and nonmetals, and certain elements partake of both acid and basic qualities, as chromium, manganese, bismuth, etc.
 Note: ☞ Popularly, the name is applied to certain hard, fusible metals, as gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, zinc, nickel, etc., and also to the mixed metals, or metallic alloys, as brass, bronze, steel, bell metal, etc.
 2. Ore from which a metal is derived; -- so called by miners.
 3. A mine from which ores are taken. [Obs.]
    Slaves . . . and persons condemned to metals.   --Jer. Taylor.
 4. The substance of which anything is made; material; hence, constitutional disposition; character; temper.
    Not till God make men of some other metal than earth.   --Shak.
 5. Courage; spirit; mettle. See Mettle.
 Note: ☞ The allusion is to the temper of the metal of a sword blade.
 6. The broken stone used in macadamizing roads and ballasting railroads.
 7. The effective power or caliber of guns carried by a vessel of war.
 8. Glass in a state of fusion.
 9. pl. The rails of a railroad. [Eng.]
 Base metal Chem., any one of the metals, as iron, lead, etc., which are readily tarnished or oxidized, in contrast with the noble metals.  In general, a metal of small value, as compared with gold or silver.
 Fusible metal Metal., a very fusible alloy, usually consisting of bismuth with lead, tin, or cadmium.
 Heavy metals Chem., the metallic elements not included in the groups of the alkalies, alkaline earths, or the earths; specifically, the heavy metals, as gold, mercury, platinum, lead, silver, etc.
 Light metals Chem., the metallic elements of the alkali and alkaline earth groups, as sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, etc.; also, sometimes, the metals of the earths, as aluminium.
 Muntz metal, an alloy for sheathing and other purposes, consisting of about sixty per cent of copper, and forty of zinc.  Sometimes a little lead is added.  It is named from the inventor.
 Prince's metal Old Chem., an alloy resembling brass, consisting of three parts of copper to one of zinc; -- also called Prince Rupert's metal.


 Yel·low a. [Compar. Yellower superl. Yellowest.]
 1. Being of a bright saffronlike color; of the color of gold or brass; having the hue of that part of the rainbow, or of the solar spectrum, which is between the orange and the green.
    Her yellow hair was browded [braided] in a tress.   --Chaucer.
 A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought
 First fruits, the green ear and the yellow sheaf.   --Milton.
    The line of yellow light dies fast away.   --Keble.
 2. Cowardly; hence, dishonorable; mean; contemptible; as, he has a yellow streak. [Slang]
 3.  Sensational; -- said of some newspapers, their makers, etc.; as, yellow journal, journalism, etc. [Colloq.]
 Yellow atrophy Med., a fatal affection of the liver, in which it undergoes fatty degeneration, and becomes rapidly smaller and of a deep yellow tinge. The marked symptoms are black vomit, delirium, convulsions, coma, and jaundice.
 Yellow bark, calisaya bark.
 Yellow bass Zool., a North American fresh-water bass (Morone interrupta) native of the lower parts of the Mississippi and its tributaries. It is yellow, with several more or less broken black stripes or bars. Called also barfish.
 Yellow berry. Bot. Same as Persian berry, under Persian.
 Yellow boy, a gold coin, as a guinea. [Slang] --Arbuthnot.
 Yellow brier. Bot. See under Brier.
 Yellow bugle Bot., a European labiate plant (Ajuga Chamaepitys).
 Yellow bunting Zool., the European yellow-hammer.
 Yellow cat Zool., a yellow catfish; especially, the bashaw.
 Yellow copperas Min., a hydrous sulphate of iron; -- called also copiapite.
 Yellow copper ore, a sulphide of copper and iron; copper pyrites.  See Chalcopyrite.
 Yellow cress Bot., a yellow-flowered, cruciferous plant (Barbarea praecox), sometimes grown as a salad plant.
 Yellow dock. Bot. See the Note under Dock.
 Yellow earth, a yellowish clay, colored by iron, sometimes used as a yellow pigment.
 Yellow fever Med., a malignant, contagious, febrile disease of warm climates, attended with jaundice, producing a yellow color of the skin, and with the black vomit.  See Black vomit, in the Vocabulary.
 Yellow flag, the quarantine flag.  See under Quarantine, and 3d Flag.
 Yellow jack. (a) The yellow fever.  See under 2d Jack. (b) The quarantine flag.  See under Quarantine.
 Yellow jacket Zool., any one of several species of American social wasps of the genus Vespa, in which the color of the body is partly bright yellow. These wasps are noted for their irritability, and for their painful stings.
 Yellow lead ore Min., wulfenite.
 Yellow lemur Zool., the kinkajou.
 Yellow macauco Zool., the kinkajou.
 Yellow mackerel Zool., the jurel.
 Yellow metal. Same as Muntz metal, under Metal.
 Yellow ocher Min., an impure, earthy variety of brown iron ore, which is used as a pigment.
 Yellow oxeye Bot., a yellow-flowered plant (Chrysanthemum segetum) closely related to the oxeye daisy.
 Yellow perch Zool., the common American perch.  See Perch.
 Yellow pike Zool., the wall-eye.
 Yellow pine Bot., any of several kinds of pine; also, their yellowish and generally durable timber. Among the most common are valuable species are Pinus mitis and Pinus palustris of the Eastern and Southern States, and Pinus ponderosa and Pinus Arizonica of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific States.
 Yellow plover Zool., the golden plover.
 Yellow precipitate Med. Chem., an oxide of mercury which is thrown down as an amorphous yellow powder on adding corrosive sublimate to limewater.
 Yellow puccoon. Bot. Same as Orangeroot.
 Yellow rail Zool., a small American rail (Porzana Noveboracensis) in which the lower parts are dull yellow, darkest on the breast. The back is streaked with brownish yellow and with black, and spotted with white. Called also yellow crake.
 Yellow rattle, Yellow rocket. Bot. See under Rattle, and Rocket.
 Yellow Sally Zool., a greenish or yellowish European stone fly of the genus Chloroperla; -- so called by anglers.
 Yellow sculpin Zool., the dragonet.
 Yellow snake Zool., a West Indian boa (Chilobothrus inornatus) common in Jamaica. It becomes from eight to ten long. The body is yellowish or yellowish green, mixed with black, and anteriorly with black lines.
 Yellow spot. (a) Anat. A small yellowish spot with a central pit, the fovea centralis, in the center of the retina where vision is most accurate.  See Eye. (b) Zool. A small American butterfly (Polites Peckius) of the Skipper family. Its wings are brownish, with a large, irregular, bright yellow spot on each of the hind wings, most conspicuous beneath. Called also Peck's skipper. See Illust. under Skipper, n., 5.
 Yellow tit Zool., any one of several species of crested titmice of the genus Machlolophus, native of India. The predominating colors of the plumage are yellow and green.
 Yellow viper Zool., the fer-de-lance.
 Yellow warbler Zool., any one of several species of American warblers of the genus Dendroica in which the predominant color is yellow, especially Dendroica aestiva, which is a very abundant and familiar species; -- called also garden warbler, golden warbler, summer yellowbird, summer warbler, and yellow-poll warbler.
 Yellow wash Pharm., yellow oxide of mercury suspended in water, -- a mixture prepared by adding corrosive sublimate to limewater.
 Yellow wren Zool. (a) The European willow warbler. (b) The European wood warbler.


 Com·po·si·tion n.
 1. The act or art of composing, or forming a whole or integral, by placing together and uniting different things, parts, or ingredients. In specific uses: (a) The invention or combination of the parts of any literary work or discourse, or of a work of art; as, the composition of a poem or a piece of music. “The constant habit of elaborate composition.” --Macaulay. (b) Fine Arts The art or practice of so combining the different parts of a work of art as to produce a harmonious whole; also, a work of art considered as such. See 4, below. (c) The act of writing for practice in a language, as English, Latin, German, etc. (d) Print. The setting up of type and arranging it for printing.
 2. The state of being put together or composed; conjunction; combination; adjustment.
    View them in composition with other things.   --I. Watts.
    The elementary composition of bodies.   --Whewell.
 3. A mass or body formed by combining two or more substances; as, a chemical composition.
    A composition that looks . . . like marble.   --Addison.
 4. A literary, musical, or artistic production, especially one showing study and care in arrangement; -- often used of an elementary essay or translation done as an educational exercise.
 5. Consistency; accord; congruity. [Obs.]
 There is no composition in these news
 That gives them credit.   --Shak.
 6. Mutual agreement to terms or conditions for the settlement of a difference or controversy; also, the terms or conditions of settlement; agreement.
 Thus we are agreed:
 I crave our composition may be written.   --Shak.
 7. Law The adjustment of a debt, or avoidance of an obligation, by some form of compensation agreed on between the parties; also, the sum or amount of compensation agreed upon in the adjustment.
    Compositions for not taking the order of knighthood.   --Hallam.
    Cleared by composition with their creditors.   --Blackstone.
 8. Synthesis as opposed to analysis.
    The investigation of difficult things by the method of analysis ought ever to precede the method of composition.   --Sir I. Newton.
 Composition cloth, a kind of cloth covered with a preparation making it waterproof.
 Composition deed, an agreement for composition between a debtor and several creditors.
 Composition plane Crystallog., the plane by which the two individuals of a twin crystal are united in their reserved positions.
 Composition of forces Mech., the finding of a single force (called the resultant) which shall be equal in effect to two or more given forces (called the components) when acting in given directions. --Herbert.
 Composition metal, an alloy resembling brass, which is sometimes used instead of copper for sheathing vessels; -- also called Muntz metal and yellow metal.
 Composition of proportion Math., an arrangement of four proportionals so that the sum of the first and second is to the second as the sum of the third and fourth to the fourth.

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 Muntz metal
      n : a brass that has more zinc and is stronger than alpha brass;
          used in making castings and hot-worked products [syn: {alpha-beta
          brass, yellow metal]