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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Metalloid \Met"al*loid\, noun [L. metallum metal + -oid: cf. F. m['e]tallo["i]de.] (a) Formerly, the metallic base of a fixed alkali, or alkaline earth; -- applied by Sir Humphrey Davy to sodium, potassium, and some other metallic substances whose metallic character was supposed to be not well defined. (b) Now, one of several elementary substances which in the free state are unlike metals, and whose compounds possess or produce acid, rather than basic, properties; a nonmetal; as, boron, carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur, chlorine, bromine, etc., are metalloids.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Metalloid \Met"al*loid\, adjective
1. Having the appearance of a metal.
2. (Chem.) Having the properties of a nonmetal; nonmetallic; acid; negative.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
metalloid
adjective: of or being a nonmetallic element that has some of the properties of metal; "arsenic is a metalloid element"
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