Meanings
- not comparableDesignating direct contact between two metal items or elements.First known use 19th c.
The cars would be all right with their good metal-to-metal brakes and anyway, coming down, they would not be loaded.
1929, Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, Folio Society, published 2008, page 314 more examples
Mr. T. Barnabas Daft, of Dublin, has just filed the specification of a patent for an invention which has for its object the forming of spigot and faucet ends upon cast iron pipes, true enough to make “metal to metal” joints without turning and boring.
1857 February 14, The Mechanics' MagazineRubber shock-absorbing pads and bushes eliminate metal-to-metal contact and rubber springs are used for buffing and drawgear.
1946 November and December, “New L.M.S.R. Royal Coaches”, in Railway Magazine, page 371The braking system of the latest units is largely of a new design, the components of which are smaller and lighter than before and in which many of the metal-to-metal contacts particularly subject to wear have been eliminated.
1959 June, “Southern Newsreel: Four-car express units for the Kent Coast”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 304–305One of the oldest fittings used in hydraulic systems is the threaded seal metal-to-metal tapered union (Figure 7-1).
2010, Ben Watson, Mobile Equipment Hydraulics, page 100
Cite this entry
metal-to-metal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metal-to-metal
“metal-to-metal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metal-to-metal. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “metal-to-metal,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metal-to-metal.
Source: metal-to-metal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.