noun
babbitt
BA-biht
noun
1
A soft metal alloy used to line bearings and reduce friction.
"The old engine's bearings were relined with babbitt."
2
A person who conforms unquestioningly to conventional, materialistic middle-class values (from the novel character).
"Critics dismissed him as a babbitt obsessed with status symbols."
verb
1
To line a bearing surface with this alloy.
"The machinist babbitted the worn bearing before reassembling the engine."
How to Use Babbitt
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishEither a metal alloy for machine bearings, or (from a novel) an insult for someone who is smugly conventional.
Word Forms
babbitted past tense, Babbitts plural, Babbitts plural, babbitts singular
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Etymology
The metal is named after its American inventor, Isaac Babbitt (1799-1862); the "conformist" sense comes from the title character of Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel Babbitt.