Glass vs. Metal — What's the Difference?

Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent amorphous solid, that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of the molten form; some glasses such as volcanic glass are naturally occurring.

A metal (from Greek μέταλλον métallon, "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typically malleable (they can be hammered into thin sheets) or ductile (can be drawn into wires).

A hard, brittle substance, typically transparent or translucent, made by fusing sand with soda and lime and cooling rapidly. It is used to make windows, drinking containers, and other articles

A solid material which is typically hard, shiny, malleable, fusible, and ductile, with good electrical and thermal conductivity (e.g. iron, gold, silver, and aluminium, and alloys such as steel)

A drinking container made from glass

Broken stone for use in making roads

A lens, or an optical instrument containing a lens or lenses, in particular a monocle or a magnifying lens.

Molten glass before it is blown or cast.

A mirror

Heavy metal or similar rock music

Cover or enclose with glass

Made from or coated with metal

(especially in hunting) scan (one's surroundings) with binoculars

Make or mend (a road) with road metal

Hit (someone) in the face with a beer glass

Any of a category of electropositive elements that usually have a shiny surface, are generally good conductors of heat and electricity, and can be melted or fused, hammered into thin sheets, or drawn into wires. Typical metals form salts with nonmetals, basic oxides with oxygen, and alloys with one another.

Reflect as if in a mirror

An alloy of two or more metallic elements.

Any of a large class of materials with highly variable mechanical and optical properties that solidify from the molten state without crystallization, are typically made by silicates fusing with boric oxide, aluminum oxide, or phosphorus pentoxide, are generally hard, brittle, and transparent or translucent, and are considered to be supercooled liquids rather than true solids.

An object made of metal.

A drinking vessel.

Basic character; mettle.

A mirror.

Broken stones used for road surfaces or railroad beds.

A barometer.

Molten glass, especially when used in glassmaking.

A window or windowpane.

Molten cast iron.

The series of transparent plastic sheets that are secured vertically above the boards in many ice rinks.

(Printing) Type made of metal.

Glasses A pair of lenses mounted in a light frame, used to correct faulty vision or protect the eyes.

(Music) Heavy metal.

Often glasses A binocular or field glass.

To cover or surface (a roadbed, for example) with broken stones.

A device, such as a monocle or spyglass, containing a lens or lenses and used as an aid to vision.

(heading) Chemical elements or alloys, and the mines where their ores come from.

The quantity contained by a drinking vessel; a glassful.

Any of a number of chemical elements in the periodic table that form a metallic bond with other metal atoms; generally shiny, somewhat malleable and hard, often a conductor of heat and electricity.

Objects made of glass; glassware.

Any material with similar physical properties, such as an alloy.

Made or consisting of glass.

(astronomy) An element which was not directly created after the Big Bang but instead formed through nuclear reactions; any element other than hydrogen and helium.

Fitted with panes of glass; glazed.

Crushed rock, stones etc. used to make a road.

To enclose or encase with glass.

(mining) The ore from which a metal is derived.

To put into a glass container.

(obsolete) A mine from which ores are taken.

To provide with glass or glass parts.

(tincture) A light tincture used in a coat of arms, specifically argent (white or silver) and or (gold).

To make glassy; glaze.

Molten glass that is to be blown or moulded to form objects.

To see reflected, as in a mirror.

(music) A category of rock music encompassing a number of genres (including thrash metal, death metal, heavy metal, etc.) characterized by strong drum-beats and distorted guitars.

To reflect.

The substance that constitutes something or someone; matter; hence, character or temper.

To scan (a tract of land or forest, for example) with an optical instrument.

The effective power or calibre of guns carried by a vessel of war.

To become glassy.

The rails of a railway.

To use an optical instrument, as in looking for game.

The actual airline operating a flight, rather than any of the codeshare operators.

An amorphous solid, often transparent substance, usually made by melting silica sand with various additives (for most purposes, a mixture of soda, potash and lime is added).

(music) Characterized by strong drum-beats and distorted guitars.

Any amorphous solid (one without a regular crystal lattice).

Having the emotional or social characteristics associated with metal music; brash, bold, frank, unyielding, etc.

(countable) A vessel from which one drinks, especially one made of glass, plastic, or similar translucent or semi-translucent material.

To make a road using crushed rock, stones etc.

(metonymically) The quantity of liquid contained in such a vessel.

An elementary substance, as sodium, calcium, or copper, whose oxide or hydroxide has basic rather than acid properties, as contrasted with the nonmetals, or metalloids. No sharp line can be drawn between the metals and nonmetals, and certain elements partake of both acid and basic qualities, as chromium, manganese, bismuth, etc.

(uncountable) Glassware.

Ore from which a metal is derived; - so called by miners.

A mirror.

A mine from which ores are taken.

A magnifying glass or telescope.

The substance of which anything is made; material; hence, constitutional disposition; character; temper.

(sport) A barrier made of solid, transparent material.

Courage; spirit; mettle. See Mettle.

The backboard.

The broken stone used in macadamizing roads and ballasting railroads.

(ice hockey) The clear, protective screen surrounding a hockey rink.

The effective power or caliber of guns carried by a vessel of war.

A barometer.

Glass in a state of fusion.

Transparent or translucent.

The rails of a railroad.

(obsolete) An hourglass.

To cover with metal; as, to metal a ship's bottom; to metal a road.

Lenses, considered collectively.

Any of several chemical elements that are usually shiny solids that conduct heat or electricity and can be formed into sheets etc.

A pane of glass; a window (especially of a coach or similar vehicle).

A mixture containing two or more metallic elements or metallic and nonmetallic elements usually fused together or dissolving into each other when molten;

(transitive) To fit with glass; to glaze.

Cover with metal

(transitive) To enclose in glass.

Containing or made of or resembling or characteristic of a metal;

(transitive) fibreglass To fit, cover, fill, or build, with fibreglass-reinforced resin composite (fiberglass).

To strike (someone), particularly in the face, with a drinking glass with the intent of causing injury.

To bombard an area with such intensity (nuclear bomb, fusion bomb, etc) as to melt the landscape into glass.

(transitive) To view through an optical instrument such as binoculars.

(transitive) To smooth or polish (leather, etc.), by rubbing it with a glass burnisher.

To reflect; to mirror.

(transitive) To make glassy.

(intransitive) To become glassy.

A hard, brittle, translucent, and commonly transparent substance, white or colored, having a conchoidal fracture, and made by fusing together sand or silica with lime, potash, soda, or lead oxide. It is used for window panes and mirrors, for articles of table and culinary use, for lenses, and various articles of ornament.

Any substance having a peculiar glassy appearance, and a conchoidal fracture, and usually produced by fusion.

Anything made of glass.

A drinking vessel; a tumbler; a goblet; hence, the contents of such a vessel; especially; spirituous liquors; as, he took a glass at dinner.

To reflect, as in a mirror; to mirror; - used reflexively.

To case in glass.

To cover or furnish with glass; to glaze.

To smooth or polish anything, as leater, by rubbing it with a glass burnisher.

A brittle transparent solid with irregular atomic structure

A glass container for holding liquids while drinking

The quantity a glass will hold

A small refracting telescope

Amphetamine used in the form of a crystalline hydrochloride; used as a stimulant to the nervous system and as an appetite suppressant

A mirror; usually a ladies' dressing mirror

Glassware collectively;

Furnish with glass;

Scan (game in the forest) with binoculars

Enclose with glass;

Put in a glass container

Become glassy or take on a glass-like appearance;