smelt
- 01 C1 Advanced
v.to melt rock (ore) at a very high heat to get the metal out of it.
v.to extract a metal from its ore by a process involving heating and melting.
Simple“The company uses a large factory to smelt iron from the rocks they mine.”
In context“Ancient civilisations discovered how to smelt copper long before they developed the technology required for iron production.”
UsageThis is a transitive verb that usually takes a specific metal or 'ore' as its object.
- 02 C2 Proficiency
n.a small silver fish that lives in both salt and fresh water.
n.any small anadromous fish of the family Osmeridae.
Simple“The fisherman caught a bucket of smelt in the river this morning.”
In context“The local ecosystem relies heavily on the annual migration of smelt, which provide a vital food source for larger predators.”
From Middle English smelt, from Old English smelt, from Proto-Germanic *smeltaz.
From very early Middle English smel; likely to derive from Old English, but not recorded.
From Middle Dutch smelten (“to melt”) or Middle Low German smelten (“to melt”), from Old Dutch smeltan or Old Saxon smeltan, both from Proto-West Germanic smeltan, from Proto-Germanic *smeltaną (“to melt”). Related to English melt and Old English meltan (“to melt”). Cognate to Dutch smelten, German schmelzen.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.