pinchbeck

plural pinchbecks

1. uncountableusuallyAn alloy of copper and zinc once used as imitation gold for cheap jewelry.

comparative more pinchbeck · superlative most pinchbeck

1. not comparableMade of pinchbeck.

   on the inside were suspended a variety of watches, pinchbeck, silver, and one or two of gold

   1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Artist of the Beautiful”, in Mosses from an Old Manse

2. Sham; spurious, artificial; being a cheap substitution; only superficially attractive.

   Vain Delight must have lost her freshness, and be older and more pinchbeck.

   1912, Esther Willard Bates, Pageants and Pageantry, page 237

   4 more examples

   Where, in these pinchbeck days, can we hope to find the old agricultural virtue in all its purity?

   1860, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage

   The second point on which I wish to offer a remark is the existence (in the novel) of a person named Schomberg. That I believe him to be true goes without saying. I am not likely to offer pinchbeck wares to my public consciously.

   1915, Joseph Conrad, Victory, Note to the First Edition

   Coming at a time when Alexander was trying desperately to halt Napoleon's advance, the British response to his call for help appeared even more pinchbeck than it was.

   1996, John M. Sherwig, Guineas and Gunpowder: British Foreign Aid In the Wars with France, 1793-1815, page 180

   Anyway, at least I had created the pinchbeck crown in which Dai could place his jewel.

   2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 183

plural Pinchbecks

1. countableuncountableA village and civil parish in South Holland district, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom (OS grid ref TF2425).
2. countableuncountableA surname.