Speauter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An old name for zinc metal, or for a zinc-based alloy used in soldering and brazing work
2. The commercial term for zinc or a zinc alloy, historically used as a solder for joining metals
3. Another name for zinc, particularly in older trade usage, and for the alloy made from it

Etymology: "Speauter" was the older trade name for zinc, and "spelter" was its common variant. European merchants used the term for the metal as it arrived in ingots, and for zinc alloys used in brass-making. The name's origin is uncertain. Dictionaries point to Dutch and German forms such as "spiauter," but it is not settled whether those forms are the source or simply related attempts to name an imported metal. Zinc had been smelted in India and China long before European furnaces produced it, so the word may reflect goods arriving by trade rather than a native European name. The word has largely fallen out of use. It survives in historical records, in "spelter solder" (a hard solder made from zinc alloy), and in cast-metal ornaments, which were often called spelter figures.

Synonyms: spelter, zinc