The substance of which bells are made; an alloy of copper and tin, the tin being in larger proportion than in ordinary bronze.
The proportions of the constituents vary within the limits of 31/4 and 4 of copper to 1 of tin: the former is suited for large bells, the latter for small house-bells.
1541. Act 33 Hen. VIII., vii. § 1. No person … should … conuey anie brasse … laten, bell metall, gun metall … into … partes beyonde the sea.
1522–3. Inv. Ch. Goods Staffs., 24. A bokett of belmettel.
1613. Sir H. Finch, Law (1636), 235. A licence to carrie Bell-mettall out of the Realme.
1812. Sir H. Davy, Chem. Philos., 420. Copper alloyed with from 1/12 to 1/5 of tin forms the different species of bronze and bell-metal.
b. attrib. Made of or resembling this alloy. Also fig. applied to a loud ringing voice.
1780. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 225/2. By eating mushrooms stewed in a bell-metal saucepan.
1816. Southey, in Q. Rev., XVI. 271. Any blockhead with a brazen face and a bell-metal voice.
1837. Dana, Min. (1880), 68. [Stannite] frequently has the appearance of bronze or bell metal, and hence the name bell-metal ore.
