Meaning of Babbitt | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Alternative letter-case form of Babbitt (“a person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals”).
   US, alt-of, dated
2. A surname.
   countable, uncountable
3. A person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals.
   US, dated
4. Alternative letter-case form of babbitt (“a soft white alloy of variable composition (for example, nine parts of tin to one of copper, or fifty parts of tin to five of antimony and one of copper) used in bearings to diminish friction”).
   alt-of, countable, dated, uncountable
5. Ellipsis of babbitt metal or Babbitt metal (“a soft white alloy of variable composition used in bearings to diminish friction”).
   abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
6. A city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States.
   countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Running while low on oil had galled the babbitt.”

“Figure 2 represents a top plan of the "Babbitting" jig, placed in or upon a cast-iron frame, preparatory to the pouring or casting of the "Babbitt" or other soft metal on to or around its journals, to form journal bearings in said cast-iron frame.”

“Remove all sharp edges from the babbitt with a chisel or file and try the shaft after removing the paper wrapping for a fit. If a light coat of oil mixed with lampblack be smeared on the shaft and the shaft revolved, the lampblack will catch on the high points of the babbitt, then by removing the shaft and scraping off these high spots a good bearing can be produced.”

“Coins made from nickel babbitt are fairly hard and give a clear bright ring. This makes it easier to pass them due to the widespread belief that a sure test of a counterfeit coin is to drop it on a hard surface to see if it will "ring". […] The simplest test is to cut the edge of a suspected coin with a pocket knife. If it is made of babbitt the metal will pare off quite easily.”

“The cross-head is cast of crucible steel and faced with Babbitt. […] The rod is secured to the crank pin by body bound bolts, this bearing being provided with Babbitt shells which are prevented from turning by paper liners extending to the pin.”

“Perhaps the most familiar soft bearing alloys are the babbitts. These have been in use since the early 19th century when printer's type metal was utilized for machinery by casting it into holes drilled in iron housings. […] Babbitt or whitemetal bearing materials represent a class of alloys developed specifically for bearing applications.”

“In most applications, the inner bearing surface is made of a thin layer of a soft white metal (babbitt), which has a low melting temperature.”

“Babbitts may be lead-based (as 75%Pb, 15%Sb, 10%Sn) or tin-based (as 89%Pb, 3%Cu). They use lead or tin as a soft matrix metal and hard particles of Sb-Sn or Cu-Sn to resist wear. Because of their softness, babbitts are unrivalled in conformability and embeddability. […] Because of low strength and high cost, a thin babbitt overlay, usually about 0.025 mm, is often deposited as liners over steel bushings to combine the great load carrying capacity of steel with conformability and corrosion resistan[ce] of babbitts.”

“One speaks of a babbitt habit, a babbitt era. Nothing is more true. America recognized itself in Babbitt, it demurred, but it also admired.”

“… a "babbitt" is a person full of self-confident bluster who is nevertheless a narrowminded philistine and a hypocrite.]”

“Ira relished telling the story that Fred Astaire took him aside and said he knew what a babbitt was, but what was a bromide?”

“A Babbitt met a Bromide on the avenue one day. They held a conversation in their own peculiar way.”

“One speaks of a babbitt habit, a babbitt era. Nothing is more true. America recognized itself in Babbitt, it demurred, but it also admired.”

“The top and bottom are spiritually and intellectually nearer together in America than in most countries, but there are plenty of Babbitts everywhere.”

“If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a Babbitt. Say, there's nothing more wonderful than defying middle-class conventions.”

“I myself think that Doc overdid the Yankee Doodle stuff. Being a Babbitt inspired him almost the way Swinburne did me. He was dying to say goodbye to Jewry, or to feudalism.”

“… a "babbitt" is a person full of self-confident bluster who is nevertheless a narrowminded philistine and a hypocrite.]”

“Ira relished telling the story that Fred Astaire took him aside and said he knew what a babbitt was, but what was a bromide?”

“In this sense Harding was a Babbitt. Intellectuals and journalists rejected Harding as being as empty as the Sinclair Lewis character.”

“Figure 2 represents a top plan of the "Babbitting" jig, placed in or upon a cast-iron frame, preparatory to the pouring or casting of the "Babbitt" or other soft metal on to or around its journals, to form journal bearings in said cast-iron frame.”

“The cross-head is cast of crucible steel and faced with Babbitt. […] The rod is secured to the crank pin by body bound bolts, this bearing being provided with Babbitt shells which are prevented from turning by paper liners extending to the pin.”

“The most common bearing materials are Babbitts, both tin-base (as 89% Sn, 8% Pb, 3% Cu) and lead-base (as 75% Pb, 15% Sb, 10% Sn), and copper alloys, primarily copper lead, leaded bronze, tin bronze, and aluminium bronze. […] The Babbitts are unexcelled in conformability and embeddability, but they have relatively low compressive and fatigue strength, particularly above about 77°C (170°F). Babbitts can seldom be used above about 121°C (250°F).”

CEFR level