Word of the Day

Pinchbeck

DEFINITION

adjective

EXAMPLES

Though our hosts were not outwardly unfriendly, we suspected that

their kindness to us was pinchbeck.

"Presently, your uncommon brooch will interest folks who collect scarab or

Victorian jewelry, pinchbeck pieces or antique Egyptian items. If the pin has a strong,

working clasp and no damage, it is valued at $75 to $125." —

From an article by Alyce Hand Benham in The Press of Atlantic City, May 18, 2013

Even the weather seemed to fight for his pinchbeck empire; it was continuously dry,

and for the season in Northern France extraordinarily clear.

We don't know whether 'tis real gold and precious stones, or only glass and pinchbeck.

Then some cheap hosiery had to be purchased—more collars of the bearing-rein type,

some stiff shirts, made-up white ties, pinchbeck studs and cufflinks.

This feeling ran through the whole of society, and pinchbeck was

considered as at once despicable and disreputable.

DID YOU KNOW?

On November 27, 1732, an advertisement ran in a British newspaper announcing that

"the toys made of the late ingenious Mr. Pinchbeck's curious metal ...

are now sold only by his son." The Mr. Pinchbeck in question was Christopher Pinchbeck,

a London watchmaker who invented the alloy that would be posthumously named for him.

Although the metal is used as a substitute for gold, the word "pinchbeck,"

which can also be used as a noun, didn't acquire its "counterfeit" sense until the 1790s,

over 50 years after Pinchbeck's death.