[a. L. ēlectrum, ad. Gr. ἤλεκτρον, in same senses. See also ELECTRE.]
† 1. Amber. Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxxi. (1495), 683. Of the pyne appyll tree cometh droppyng and woosynge whyche is made harde … and soo tornyth in to a precyous stone that hyghte Electrum.
1602. Metamorph. Tabacco (Collier), 17. Eridanus his pearl’d Electrum gaue.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., II. 57. These fishes … are unable to attract, or to repel the lightest substances, which even the electrum can affect.
† b. fig. of tears. Obs.
1591. Greene, Maidens Dreame, v. 4. It was her masters death That drew electrum from her weeping eyes.
2. a. An alloy of silver and gold (of pale yellow color) in use among the ancients; = ELECTRE 1. Also attrib. b. Min. Native argentiferous gold containing from 20 to 50 per cent. of silver.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. xxxvii. (1495), 565. Electrum is a metall … it shyneth more clere than gold or syluer.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind., I. IV. (Arb.), 83, marg. note. Electrum is a metall naturally mixt of one portion of golde & an other of siluer.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 798. 206. The Ancient Electrum had in it a Fifth of Siluer to the Gold.
1674. Earl Sandwich, trans. Barba’s Art Metals (1740), 72. Electrum … which is a natural mixture of Gold and Silver.
1868. Dana, Min. (1880). 5. A mass of electrum … consisting of large crystals, containing 25 p. c. of silver.
1876. Humphreys, Coin Coll. Man., xvi. 186. The coins of Lydia were frequently of electrum.
3. An alloy of copper, zinc and nickel.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 252. A base metal in modern use has received the name of electrum. It is an alloy of copper, zinc, and tin, with sometimes nickel.
