name
Meaning 1
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
babbitt
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbæbɪt/
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Received-Pronunciation: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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/ˈbæbət/ weak vowel merger
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rhymes with -æbɪt
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CMU ARPABET: B AE1 B IH0 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
name
Meaning 2
A city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Ellipsis of babbitt metal or Babbitt metal (“a soft white alloy of variable composition used in bearings to diminish friction”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
Examples
- Running while low on oil had galled the babbitt.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Babbitt's metal
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
Alternative letter-case form of Babbitt (“a person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, alt-of, dated
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, dated
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
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”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, countable, dated, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To line (something) with babbitt metal to reduce friction.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Examples
- The main bearings were babbitted and line-bored.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
an alloy of tin with some copper and antimony; a lining for bearings that reduces friction
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Babbitt metal
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: alloy, metal
verb
Meaning 9
line with a Babbitt metal
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: line
History
Etymology
The noun is derived from Babbitt, the surname of the American inventor Isaac Babbitt (1799–1862) who invented the alloy. The verb is derived from the noun.
From Babbitt, the surname of George Babbitt, the title character of the novel Babbitt (1922) by the American author Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951). The word was also popularized by the George (1898–1937) and Ira Gershwin (1896–1983) song “The Babbitt and the Bromide”, first featured in the 1927 musical Funny Face and later in the film Ziegfeld Follies (1945).
From the surname of George Babbitt, the title character of the novel Babbitt (1922) by the American author Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951). The word was also popularized by the George (1898–1937) and Ira Gershwin (1896–1983) song “The Babbitt and the Bromide”, first featured in the 1927 musical Funny Face and later in the film Ziegfeld Follies (1945).
See babbitt.
Across languages
Translations
14 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Belarusian: бабіт (babit) — soft white alloy of variable composition — see also babbitt metal
- Bulgarian: бабит (babit) — soft white alloy of variable composition — see also babbitt metal
- Estonian: babiit — soft white alloy of variable composition — see also babbitt metal
- Indonesian: babit — soft white alloy of variable composition — see also babbitt metal
- Kazakh: баббит (babbit) — soft white alloy of variable composition — see also babbitt metal
- Polish: babbit — soft white alloy of variable composition — see also babbitt metal
- Romanian: babbit — soft white alloy of variable composition — see also babbitt metal
- Russian: ба́ббит (bábbit) — soft white alloy of variable composition — see also babbitt metal
- Ukrainian: бабіт (babit) — soft white alloy of variable composition — see also babbitt metal
- Polish: drobnomieszczanin — person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals
- Polish: drobnomieszczanka — person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals
- Polish: filister — person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals
- Polish: oprawiać babbitem — to line (something) with babbitt metal to reduce friction
- Polish: oprawić babbitem — to line (something) with babbitt metal to reduce friction