road metal

noun, British

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

Also called metal.

Origin

1810-20

Examples from the web for road metal

These gravels have been mined from hundreds of pits for fill, base material for paved roads, and road metal for secondary roads.
In this region the roads are surfaced with oyster shells, which make an admirable road metal for light traffic.
Limestone for building stone, quartzite for cement, and gravel for road metal have been mined in the area.
The dense lava making up this plug is suitable for use as road metal, and currently is quarried for that purpose.
The occurrence area has been used as road metal for local road construction and is fairly well exposed.

British Dictionary definitions for road metal

noun

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