metalling

English

Verb

metalling

1. present participle and gerund of metal

Noun

metalling (countable and uncountable, plural metallings)

1. A road surface, especially one of gravel (but sometimes with reference to macadam, tarmacadam, or asphalt concrete).

   Coordinate term: pavement

   • 1971, George Ewart Evans, quoting Margaret Meek (born 1909), Tools of Their Trades: An Oral History of Men at Work c. 1900‎^[1], Taplinger Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 143:

     And I did do jobs like collecting acorns which we fed to the pigs, mixed with other things. And I also picked stones off the fields which was done in those times, stones as metalling for the roads.

   • 2012 April 2, Editorial staff, “DM [District Magistrate] annoyed over poor quality of work”, in Tribune News Service‎^[2], Chandigarh, India, retrieved 2023-05-23:

     Almora, April 1 — Almora District Magistrate DS Garbyal has expressed his annoyance at the poor quality of work executed by the personnel of the Public Works Department (PWD) in the district. […] In a letter addressed to the Chief Engineer of the PWD, Garbyal highlighted defects in the roads, culverts and drains that were built during the last financial year. He said the metalling of the roads had started to come off and the potholes marking the roads were causing accidents.

2. The process or an instance of installing such a surface; paving.
   • 1922, Falls Cyril, The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division‎^[3], M'Caw, Stevenson and Orr, Ltd:

     One of the most important tasks was the metalling of the roads, and the dumping of metal beside them in parts where it was impossible to lay it, in order that work might commence with the assault. The surface of the roads was good, but only because the Division had been holding a front so wide, which made the traffic upon them relatively light.

   • 1964, J.M. Fiey, “The Iraqi section of the Abbassid Road Mosul—Nisibin”, in Iraq, volume 26, number 2, →DOI, →JSTOR, pages 106–117:

     [Footnote 32] According to the French map of the Levant, laid in 1925, before the metalling of the roads.

   • 1979, The Antiquaries Journal, volume 58, page 106:

     The Roman street had seven successive metallings. The latest metallings were contemporary with the tile works.

See also

• aggregate, crushed stone

Anagrams

• malleting