Metalling

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of covering a surface with a layer of metal to protect or decorate it
2. Applying a metallic coating over an object for durability or aesthetic purposes
3. Coating or overlaying a material with metal to enhance its strength or appearance

Etymology: In ancient Greek, "métallon" meant a mine or quarry, the place where ore was dug from the ground, and only secondarily the metal itself. Latin borrowed it as "metallum," which kept the same range of senses: mine, quarry, mineral. Old French passed it on as "metal," and Middle English took it from there. "Metalling" is the present participle and gerund of the verb "to metal," meaning to cover something with metal. The verb grows from the noun's sense of a substance, and the noun has a separate old use: road-builders call broken stone "road metal," and to metal a road is to surface it with that stone.

Synonyms: coating, plating