babbitt

noun

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable)Ellipsis of babbitt metal or Babbitt metal (“a soft white alloy of variable composition used in bearings to diminish friction”).

   “Running while low on oil had galled the babbitt.”

   “Figure 2 represents a top plan of the "Babbitting" jig, placed in or upon a cast-iron frame, preparatory to the pouring or casting of the "Babbitt" or other soft metal on to or around its journals, to form journal bearings in said cast-iron frame.”

   “Remove all sharp edges from the babbitt with a chisel or file and try the shaft after removing the paper wrapping for a fit. If a light coat of oil mixed with lampblack be smeared on the shaft and the shaft revolved, the lampblack will catch on the high points of the babbitt, then by removing the shaft and scraping off these high spots a good bearing can be produced.”

   “Coins made from nickel babbitt are fairly hard and give a clear bright ring. This makes it easier to pass them due to the widespread belief that a sure test of a counterfeit coin is to drop it on a hard surface to see if it will "ring". […] The simplest test is to cut the edge of a suspected coin with a pocket knife. If it is made of babbitt the metal will pare off quite easily.”

   “The cross-head is cast of crucible steel and faced with Babbitt. […] The rod is secured to the crank pin by body bound bolts, this bearing being provided with Babbitt shells which are prevented from turning by paper liners extending to the pin.”

2. (US, alt-of, dated)Alternative letter-case form of Babbitt (“a person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals”).

   “One speaks of a babbitt habit, a babbitt era. Nothing is more true. America recognized itself in Babbitt, it demurred, but it also admired.”

   “… a "babbitt" is a person full of self-confident bluster who is nevertheless a narrowminded philistine and a hypocrite.]”

   “Ira relished telling the story that Fred Astaire took him aside and said he knew what a babbitt was, but what was a bromide?”

3. (US, dated)A person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals.

   “A Babbitt met a Bromide on the avenue one day. They held a conversation in their own peculiar way.”

   “One speaks of a babbitt habit, a babbitt era. Nothing is more true. America recognized itself in Babbitt, it demurred, but it also admired.”

   “The top and bottom are spiritually and intellectually nearer together in America than in most countries, but there are plenty of Babbitts everywhere.”

   “If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a Babbitt. Say, there's nothing more wonderful than defying middle-class conventions.”

   “I myself think that Doc overdid the Yankee Doodle stuff. Being a Babbitt inspired him almost the way Swinburne did me. He was dying to say goodbye to Jewry, or to feudalism.”

4. (alt-of, countable, dated, uncountable)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”).

   “Figure 2 represents a top plan of the "Babbitting" jig, placed in or upon a cast-iron frame, preparatory to the pouring or casting of the "Babbitt" or other soft metal on to or around its journals, to form journal bearings in said cast-iron frame.”

   “The cross-head is cast of crucible steel and faced with Babbitt. […] The rod is secured to the crank pin by body bound bolts, this bearing being provided with Babbitt shells which are prevented from turning by paper liners extending to the pin.”

   “The most common bearing materials are Babbitts, both tin-base (as 89% Sn, 8% Pb, 3% Cu) and lead-base (as 75% Pb, 15% Sb, 10% Sn), and copper alloys, primarily copper lead, leaded bronze, tin bronze, and aluminium bronze. […] The Babbitts are unexcelled in conformability and embeddability, but they have relatively low compressive and fatigue strength, particularly above about 77°C (170°F). Babbitts can seldom be used above about 121°C (250°F).”

verb

1. (transitive)To line (something) with babbitt metal to reduce friction.

   “The main bearings were babbitted and line-bored.”

   “The caps for these journal-boxes or bearings may be Babbited by this same jig, and they would, of course, exactly conform to the other portions of the bearings in the frame. […] This drilling jig is a negative of the interior of the frame. It has two sets of bearings, c d and e f, which are at right angles to each other, and which set in the longitudinal and transverse bearings that have been made and "Babbited" in the cast frame, and thus steady and hold it.”

   “These bearings, with their caps, are babbitted with metal of the finest quality, a jig representing the shafting being used to locate and regulate the proportion of the bearing precisely.”

   “The work of babbitting bearings offers considerable opportunity for the use of different forms of fixtures that are capable of making a material increase in the efficiency with which this operation can be carried on.”

   “The common way may be described as babbitting one-half of the bearing at a time: then by means of pasteboard liners between the halves, making the other half complete. […] It takes half the time required to babbitt the bearings in halves.”

name

1. (countable, uncountable)A surname.
2. (countable, uncountable)A city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States.