Babbitt

babbitt English Pronunciation en /ˈbæbɪt/ RP,GA en LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-babbitt.wav RP en /ˈbæbət/ weak vowel en æbɪt 2 en Bab bitt Etymology 1 en Proper noun ~ s en. en city county/Saint Louis County s/Minnesota c/United States. Etymology 2 From the surname of George Babbitt, the title character of the novel Babbitt (1922) by the American author Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951).Babbitt n.2 1 14196 June 2011 1; n The word was also popularized by the George (1898–1937) and Ira Gershwin (1896–1983) song “The Babbitt and the Bromide”, first featured in the 1927 musical Funny Face and later in the film Ziegfeld Follies (1945). Noun en US dated A person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals. 1927 Ira Gershwin, "The Babbit and the Bromide," from the stage musical "Funny Face" (1927). Lyrics collected in: Louis Kronenberger (2008) An Anthology of Light Verse, p.234 A Babbitt met a Bromide on the avenue one day. They held a conversation in their own peculiar way. en 1930 The Literary digest 105 Funk and Wagnalls 21 One speaks of a babbitt habit, a babbitt era. Nothing is more true. America recognized itself in Babbitt, it demurred, but it also admired. en 1931 w:James Truslow Adams The Epic Of America Little, Brown, And Company Boston 411 https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.262385/page/n420/mode/1up The top and bottom are spiritually and intellectually nearer together in America than in most countries, but there are plenty of Babbitts everywhere. en 1951 The Georgia review 5 University of Georgia 150 If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a Babbitt. Say, there's nothing more wonderful than defying middle-class conventions. 1976 288 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. [2002 Tamkang review, Volume 33, Tamkang College of Arts and Sciences, p.158 [...] a "babbitt" is a person full of self-confident bluster who is nevertheless a narrowminded philistine and a hypocrite.] en 2003 William Hyland George Gershwin: a new biography 116 Greenwood Publishing Group Ira relished telling the story that Fred Astaire took him aside and said he knew what a babbitt was, but what was a bromide? en 2009 Phillip G. Payne Dead last: the public memory of Warren G. Harding's scandalous legacy, Ohio University Press 12 In this sense Harding was a Babbitt. Intellectuals and journalists rejected Harding as being as empty as the Sinclair Lewis character. Alternative forms en Babbit nonstandard en babbitt Derived terms en Babbittian en Babbittism en Babbittry, en babbittry en Babbitty Translations person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals Polish: pl drobnomieszczanin m, pl drobnomieszczanka f, pl filister m Etymology 3 See en babbitt. Noun ~ en dated en 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. en John Underwood Improved Babbitting and Drilling Jig 0070294 29 October 1867 1 https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ac/a0/0b/cc6e1a94bdbe0d/US70294.pdf#page=2 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. en The Fisher Self-oiling Engine Power New York, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company June 1895 XV 6 10 https://books.google.com/books?id=QqhBAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA6-PA10 2 0032-5929 1762742 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. en Robert C. Juvinall; Kurt M. Marshek Lubrication and Sliding Bearings Jennifer Brady Fundamentals of Machine Component Design 7th Hoboken, N.J. Wiley 2020 403 https://books.google.com/books?id=nB7zDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA403 978-1-119-72360-8 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). References Further reading Babbitt (novel) en People