Crossword clues for babbitt
babbitt
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Babbitt \Bab"bitt\, v. t. To line with Babbitt metal.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"conventional, complacent, materialistic American businessman," 1923, from George Babbitt, title character of Sinclair Lewis' novel (1922).\n\nHis name was George F. Babbitt. He was forty-six years old now, in April 1920, and he made nothing in particular, neither butter nor shoes nor poetry, but he was nimble in the selling of houses for more money than people could afford to pay.
[Sinclair Lewis, "Babbitt," 1922]
Wiktionary
Etymology 1 n. Babbitt metal. vb. (context transitive English) To line with Babbitt metal to reduce friction. Etymology 2
alt. A person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals n. A person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals
WordNet
n : an alloy of tin with some copper and antimony; an anti-friction lining for bearings [syn: Babbitt metal]
v : line with a Babbitt metal
Gazetteer
Housing Units (2000): 801
Land area (2000): 105.651265 sq. miles (273.635508 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 1.063474 sq. miles (2.754385 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 106.714739 sq. miles (276.389893 sq. km)
FIPS code: 03106
Located within: Minnesota (MN), FIPS 27
Location: 47.669322 N, 91.919331 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 55706
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Babbitt
Wikipedia
Babbitt, first published in 1922, is a novel by Sinclair Lewis. Largely a satire of American culture, society, and behavior, it critiques the vacuity of middle-class American life and its pressure toward conformity. An immediate and controversial bestseller, Babbitt was influential in the decision to award Lewis the Nobel Prize in literature in 1930.
The word "Babbitt" entered the English language as a "person and especially a business or professional man who conforms unthinkingly to prevailing middle-class standards".
Babbitt, also called Babbitt metal or bearing metal, is any of several alloys used for the bearing surface in a plain bearing.
The original Babbitt alloy was invented in 1839 by Isaac Babbitt in Taunton, Massachusetts, USA. He disclosed one of his alloy recipes but kept others as trade secrets. Other formulations were later developed. Like other terms whose eponymous origin is long since deemphasized (such as diesel engine or eustachian tube), the term babbitt metal is frequently styled in lowercase. It is preferred over the term " white metal", because the latter term may refer to various bearing alloys, lead- or tin-based alloys, or zinc die-casting metal. Babbitt metal is most commonly used as a thin surface layer in a complex, multi-metal structure, but its original use was as a cast- in-place bulk bearing material. Babbitt metal is characterized by its resistance to galling. Babbitt metal is soft and easily damaged, which suggests that it might be unsuitable for a bearing surface. However, its structure is made up of small hard crystals dispersed in a softer metal, which makes it a metal matrix composite. As the bearing wears, the softer metal erodes somewhat, which creates paths for lubricant between the hard high spots that provide the actual bearing surface. When tin is used as the softer metal, friction causes the tin to melt and function as a lubricant, which protects the bearing from wear when other lubricants are absent.
Internal combustion engines use Babbitt metal which is primarily tin-based because it can withstand cyclic loading. Lead-based Babbitt tends to work-harden and develop cracks but it is suitable for constant-turning tools such as sawblades.
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Babbitt may refer to:
Babbitt is a 1934 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis directed by William Keighley and starring Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee and Claire Dodd. A staid small-town businessman gets ensnared in shady dealings.
- redirect Babbitt, North Bergen
Category:Stations along Erie Railroad lines
Babbitt is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
- Almon W. Babbitt (1812–1856), early Latter-day Saint leader and first secretary and treasurer of Utah Territory
- Art Babbitt (1907–1992), American animator
- Benjamin T. Babbitt (1809-1889), American businessman and inventor
- Bruce Babbitt (born 1938), United States Secretary of the Interior during the Clinton administration
- Dina Babbitt (1923-2009), American painter
- George T. Babbitt, Jr., United States Air Force general
- Harriet C. Babbitt (born 1947), American diplomat, attorney, and former First Lady of Arizona
- Irving Babbitt (1865–1933), American academic and literary critic
- Isaac Babbitt (1799–1862), American inventor
- J. Randolph Babbitt (born 1946), FAA Administrator during the Obama administration
- Milton Babbitt (1916–2011), American composer of serial and electronic music
- Natalie Babbitt (born 1932), American author and illustrator of children's books, notably Tuck Everlasting, The Eyes of the Amaryllis, and Knee-Knock Rise
- Luke Babbitt (born 1989), American basketball player
- Tabitha Babbitt, American inventor
Usage examples of "babbitt".
Between Babbitt, Senior, and Captain Sam Hunniwell, the latter President of the Orham National Bank and also a vigorous politician, the dislike had always been strong.
Phineas Babbitt, on the contrary, had at first upheld the policy of strict neutrality.
And, suddenly, Phineas Babbitt, realizing that his son, Leander, was twenty-five years old and, therefore, within the limits of the draft age, became once more an ardent, if a little more careful, conscientious objector.
Now he IS drafted, and, if I know Phin Babbitt, the old man will be down on us Board fellers the first thing to get the boy exempted.
The frightened youngster scuttled away and Babbitt, the telegram rattling in his shaking hand, followed him.
Why--why--no wonder old Babbitt looked as if the main topsail yard had fell on him.
And some others, like Leander Babbitt or Captain Hunniwell, came to ask his advice on personal matters, although even they patronized him just a little.
And on the day following that upon which Leander Babbitt enrolled to fight for Uncle Sam, Jedidah Edgar Wilfred Winslow was fortyfive years old.
Phineas Babbitt, however, continued to express dislike, or, at the most, indifference.
CHAPTER XV The pity which Jed felt for Phineas Babbitt caused him to keep silent concerning his Thanksgiving evening interview with the hardware dealer.
This speech was made quietly and with all the customary Winslow deliberation and apparent calm, but there was one little slip in it and that slip Babbitt was quick to notice.
Jed had taken one long stride to where Babbitt was standing, seized the furious little creature by the right arm with one hand and with the other covered his open mouth, covered not only the mouth, but a large section of face as well.
A furious mumble from behind the fingers and a venomous flash from the Babbitt eyes were answers sufficient.
Major Grover stepped in front of him and leveled a forefinger straight at the crimson Babbitt nose.
He seemed quite oblivious of the Babbitt stare, or, for that matter, of the complete silence which had so suddenly fallen upon the group in the shop.