zinchttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zinc_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezinc, n.
First published 1921; not fully revised

zincnoun

    1. a.
      1651–
      A hard bluish-white metal (commercially known as spelter n.), brittle at ordinary temperatures, but malleable and ductile between 200° and 250°F.; obtained from various ores, esp. the sulphide (blende n.), the carbonate and silicate (calamine n., smithsonite n.), and the red oxide (zincite n.), and used for roofing, for coating or ‘galvanizing’ sheet-iron, and for numerous other purposes; it forms several alloys, of which the best known is that with copper called brass n. Chemical symbol Zn; atomic weight 65.
      1. 1651
        Any sulphurous, and imperfect metall, as Iron, Copper, or Zinke.
        J. French, Art of Distillation v. 139
      2. ?1734
        We took six Ounces of Copper, and melting it in a Wind-Furnance, added to it an Ounce of Zink.
        P. Shaw, Chemical Lectures xviii. sig. Bb7
      3. 1813
        Zinc is one of the most combustible of the common metals.
        H. Davy, Elements of Agricultural Chemistry ii. 42
      4. 1871
        The metal zinc may be burnt in oxygen.
        J. Tyndall, Fragments of Science (1879) vol. II. xiv. 344
      5. 1878
        Zinc's uncontrolled Flake-brilliance.
        R. Browning, Poets of Croisic viii
    2. b.
      1876–
      (With pl.) A plate of zinc used as the electropositive metal in a voltaic battery. (Cf. zincode n.)
      1. 1876
        If the zincs are scraped clean and the solution of sal-ammoniac kept up.
        W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright, Telegraphy 29
    3. c.
      1873–
      Galvanized iron. Chiefly S. Afr. and W. Indies. Cf. zinc roof n..
      1. 1873
        These hoppers are made of perforated zinc, or wire, the latter being preferable.
        F. Boyle, To Cape for Diamonds xix. 252
      2. 1953
        Surjue went through a zinc fence—through a hinged zinc sheet in a zinc fence that looked like a solid stretch of iron sheeting down one side of a lane.
        R. Mais, Hills were Joyful Together i. vi. 57
      3. 1973
        The brazier, zink bath and cooking utensils..were obtained from Coloureds in the area.
        Eastern Province Herald (Port Elizabeth) 23 January
      4. 1977
        All six members of the cast take turns to strip off and bathe in a zinc bath.
        Daily Express 29 January 7/3
    4. d.
      1914–
      The zinc-covered bar of a café or public house; by metonymy, a café. (A gallicism.)
      1. 1914
        Elections are made or marred chez le marchand de vin, or, as the Parisians familiarly call him, le mastroquet... The ‘organised democracy marching towards the good of progress and liberty, etc.’..is in reality nothing else than the disorganised and demoralised plebs marching towards the zinc of the mastroquet.
        19th Century February 286
      2. a1936
        My barmaid..had watched it [sc. evil] across the zinc she was always swabbing off.
        R. Kipling, Something of Myself (1937) iv. 81
      3. 1948
        We even supplied a little bar with a zinc and a motherly Frenchwoman to look after it.
        W. Fortescue, Beauty for Ashes xx. 148
      4. 1965
        I..tottered to the nearest zinc, and called for a triple cognac.
        V. Canning, Whip Hand xii. 138
      5. 1979
        The last of the cafés shut down—it was a laborers' zinc down a back street.
        A. M. Stein, Rolling Heads vi. 103

zinc, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zinc, n. was last modified in December 2024.