ingot

/ɪŋgət/

Other forms: ingots

A processed piece of fine metal is an ingot. If you find a buried treasure chest, cross your fingers that it's full of gold ingots!

When ingot was originally used in the 1500s, it meant "mold in which metal is cast." To make an ingot, metal is melted and poured into such a mold, where it hardens into a bar. Ingots are used to make metal easy to transport, store, and measure — and sometimes to be directly traded for money, particularly in the case of gold.

Definitions of ingot

1. noun

   metal that is cast in the shape of a block for convenient handling
   synonyms: block of metal, metal bar

   types:

   bullion

   gold or silver in bars or ingots

   pig

   a crude block of metal (lead or iron) poured from a smelting furnace

   type of:

   block

   a solid piece of something (usually having flat rectangular sides)