Etymology

babbitt metal

bab·bitt me·tal

Today it means: 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. Full definition →

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The story

After American inventor Isaac Babbitt (1799–1862) who invented the alloy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.