- An alloy of copper and zinc, resembling brass, and
containing about 84 per cent of copper; -- called also German, / Dutch,
brass. It is very malleable and ductile, and when beaten into thin
leaves is sometimes called Dutch metal. The addition of arsenic makes
white tombac.
- A character or symbol used to represent a sound, esp.
one used in phonography. - An instrument for the mechanical registration and
reproduction of audible sounds, as articulate speech, etc. It consists
of a rotating cylinder or disk covered with some material easily
indented, as tinfoil, wax, paraffin, etc., above which is a thin plate
carrying a stylus. As the plate vibrates under the influence of a
sound, the stylus makes minute indentations or undulations in the soft
material, and these, when the cylinder or disk is again turned, set the
plate in vibration, and reproduce the sound.