bronze

adj

Etymology: From French bronze (1511); from Italian bronzo (13th c.), of uncertain origin (q.v.). First use appears c. 1721 in the writings of Matthew Prior (for which, see citation below).

1. Made of bronze metal.

   “The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.”

2. Having a reddish-brown colour.
3. Tanned; darkened as a result of exposure to the sun.

   “That girl was dynamite. Dark hair with killer blue eyes, bronze skin, and an exquisite full-figured body.”

name

1. A surname.

noun

1. A breed of domestic turkey whose plumage has an iridescent bronze-like sheen.

verb

Etymology: From French bronze (1511); from Italian bronzo (13th c.), of uncertain origin (q.v.). First use appears c. 1721 in the writings of Matthew Prior (for which, see citation below).

1. To plate with bronze.

   “My mother bronzed my first pair of baby shoes.”

2. To color bronze; (of the sun) to tan.

   “The sun was so low that its level rays shot through the tunnels of the forest and bronzed its ceiling of woven leaves when Bess returned to the clearing.”

   “North is the bay of Acre, lovely in shape, and, far, far beyond, the cloudy vision of Hermon, its huge landscape now only attainable with a police pass—beautifully solitary except for good-looking young men of the police patrols, all fit and bronzed.”

3. To change to a bronze or tan colour due to exposure to the sun.

   “His skin began to bronze as he worked in our garden each day.”

4. To make hard or unfeeling; to brazen.

   “the lawyer who bronzes his bosom instead of his forehead”

5. To finish in third place; to win a bronze medal.

   “Louganis' runner-up count was 822.09, and Boggs bronzed at 783.78.”

   “Her speedskating teammate, Leah Poulos, captured a 1000m silver in 1976, behind Tatiana Averina of the Soviet Union, who also took the gold in the 3000m and bronzed in the 500m and the 1500m.”