bronzes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of bronze.

   Several Renaissance bronzes sold for record prices at the auction.

   The swimmer added two bronzes to her medal collection this season.

   Note

   A plural for the countable things bronze names: statues and other works of art, third-place medals, shades of the reddish-brown color. The metal itself is a mass noun, so a figure is cast in bronze, never in bronzes. In an auction catalog, bronzes usually means sculptures; on a sports page, it means medals.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of bronze.

   The summer sun bronzes the faces of the fishermen who work the docks.

   If she bronzes in the final, it will be her first Olympic medal.

   Note

   The verb works both with and without an object. With one, something else does the coloring or plating: the sun bronzes a face, a craftsman bronzes a frame. Without one, the subject is the one affected: someone who bronzes easily tans, and an athlete who bronzes finishes third. The figurative use, making someone hard or unfeeling, also takes an object.

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