road metal

broken stone, cinders, etc., used for making roads.

Also called metal.

Origin of road metal

First recorded in 1810–20

Yet how few have the energy and public spirit to get up and go for that dog with sticks, umbrellas, and pieces of road-metal!

Lost Leaders |Andrew Lang
And he pointed to the fine large heaps of road-metal and hewn stone that surrounded every cottage.

Pelle the Conqueror, Complete |Martin Anderson Nexo
Six trips were run during the day, and 69 tons of coal and road-metal were transported.

Minimum Gauge Railways |Arthur Heywood
It does not break up the given material into road-metal and gravel, but erects a building with it.

Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature - 5. The Romantic School in France |Georg Brandes

With this road-metal are mingled short strips of raphia, or palm-fibre, flexible ribbons, easily bent.

The Life of the Spider |J. Henri Fabre

road metal

crushed rock, broken stone, etc, used to construct a road