pewter

English

Alternative forms

• pewtre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English peutre, from Old French peautre, from Vulgar Latin *peltrum (“pewter”), which is of uncertain origin. Possibly related to spelter.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpjuːtə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpjutɚ/, [ˈpjuɾɚ]

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːtə(ɹ)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

pewter (countable and uncountable, plural pewters)

1. An alloy of approximately 93–98% tin and 1–2% copper, and the balance of antimony.
   • 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, (please specify either |part=I or II):

     the pewter plates on the dresser
     Caught and reflected the flame

2. (historical) An alloy of tin and lead.
3. Items made of pewter; pewterware.
4. A beer tankard made from pewter.
   • 1876, Edward Jenkins, The Devil's Chain, page 86:

     The room was arranged by low wooden partitions into bays, where eight or ten men could sit together and rest their pewters and glasses on the narrow tables between.

   • 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 26:

     When ranged up, these were discovered to be the tumbler, the pannikin, and the cracked cup aforesaid, a pickle jar, a jam pot, and a battered pewter marked "Britannia Hotel," a diversity of receptacles that called for the highest mathematical skill in measuring out an exact quantity to each guest.

5. A dark, dull grey colour, like that of the metal.

   pewter:  

6. (slang, dated) Prize money.

Derived terms

• Mexican pewter
• pewterwort
• pewtery

Descendants

• → Welsh: piwter

Translations

alloy of tin, copper and antimony

• Bulgarian: пютър m (pjutǎr)
• Catalan: peltre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 白鑞 / 白镴 (zh) (báilà)

• Danish: tin (da)
• Dutch: hardtin n, peauter n
• Finnish: astiatina, kovatina (fi), tina (fi)
• French: métal blanc (fr) m, potin (fr) m

  Old French: peautre m

• Galician: peltre m
• German: Hartzinn n
• Hungarian: (tin alloy in general) ónötvözet (hu), ^{(please verify)} csapágyfém (hu), ^{(please verify)} fehérfém
• Irish: péatar m
• Italian: peltro (it)
• Japanese: しろめ (ja) (shirome), ピューター (pyūtā), 白目 (ja) (shirome)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: калај (mk) m (kalaj)
• Malay: piuter
• Māori: piuta
• Polish: pewter (pl) m, cynołów m
• Portuguese: peltre (pt) m
• Romanian: aliaj alb n
• Russian: пью́тер (ru) m (pʹjútɛr)
• Spanish: peltre (es) m
• Swahili: pyuta
• Swedish: hårdtenn n, tenn (sv) n
• Welsh: piwter m
• Yiddish: ענגלישע צין n (englishe tsin)

alloy of tin and lead

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 錫鑞 / 锡镴 (zh) (xīlà)

• Dutch: peauter n
• Finnish: tina (fi), tinaseos
• French: potin gris (fr) m
• Galician: peltre m
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} lágyforrasz, ^{(please verify)} forrasztóón, ^{(please verify)} öntőón
• Māori: piuta
• Russian: сплав о́лова со свинцо́м m (splav ólova so svincóm)

items made of pewter — see pewterware

a beer tankard made from pewter

• German: Zinnkrug (de) m, Zinnseidel m
• Hungarian: ónkupa (hu), ónserleg

colour

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: tinanharmaa
• Swahili: rangi ya pyuta

Adjective

pewter (not comparable)

1. Of a dark, dull grey colour, like that of the metal.

Translations

colour

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: tinanharmaa
• Slovak: cín (sk) m
• Swahili: -a pyuta

Verb

pewter (third-person singular simple present pewters, present participle pewtering, simple past and past participle pewtered)

1. (transitive) To coat with pewter.

Derived terms

• pewterer
• pewterware

See also

• touchmark
• trifle
• Appendix:Colors

Anagrams

• pewtre, prewet