0 a machine that you move over the ground or a surface to discover if there is metal there: --
1 an electronic device that finds metal, used esp. to search people for weapons --
But it is a point to stress, that if one does have a metal detector, one is still supposed to have a licence before one operates it.
On another field, if there had been a metal detector the person going down would have found a small broken bronze brooch—not very valuable in itself.
Permission to use a metal detector on a scheduled ancient monument is granted only in rare circumstances, normally as part of a programme of authorised archaeological investigation under expert supervision.
In unscrupulous hands the metal detector is a dangerous tool.
On scheduled ancient monuments, no one may use a metal detector without such prior consent.
It would not catch, for example, people who were simply using a metal detector in an open field if there were no building nearby.
It is an offence to remove any object from a scheduled site by the use of a metal detector without permission.
With the invention of the metal detector all kinds of new problems have arisen.
