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Synonyms

smelt

1 American  
[smelt] / smɛlt /

noun

PLURAL

smelt

PLURAL

smelts

  1. any of various small, silvery food fishes of the family Osmeridae, of cold northern waters, as the North American rainbow smelt, Osmerus mordax.

  2. any of several superficially similar but unrelated fishes, especially certain silversides, of California.

smelt 2 American  
[smelt] / smɛlt /

verb (used with object)

  1. to fuse or melt (ore) in order to separate the metal contained.

  2. to obtain or refine (metal) in this way.

smelt 3 American  
[smelt] / smɛlt /

verb

  1. a simple past tense and past participle of smell.

smelt 1 British  
/ smɛlt /

verb

  1. a past tense and past participle of smell

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
smelt 2 British  
/ smɛlt /

noun

  1. any marine or freshwater salmonoid food fish of the family Osmeridae, such as Osmerus eperlanus of Europe, having a long silvery body and occurring in temperate and cold northern waters

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
smelt 3 British  
/ smɛlt /

verb

  1. (tr) to extract (a metal) from (an ore) by heating

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
smelt Scientific  
/ smĕlt /

  1. To melt ores in order to extract the metals they contain. Oxide ores, such as iron ore, are smelted with carbon, which serves as a fuel and changes the ore into a reduced metal.

Etymology

Origin of smelt1

First recorded before 900; Middle English smelt(e), smelth, Old English smelt, smylt; compare Norwegian smelta “whiting”

Origin of smelt1

First recorded in 1535–45; probably from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German smelten; cognate with German schmelzen “to melt, smelt, fuse”; melt 1,

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

At Minworth Wastewater Treatment works in the Midlands the scale of the current problem can be both seen and smelt.

From BBC

For many years, lead toxicity was assumed to be closely tied to human industry, including smelting, mining, and the use of leaded petrol and paint.

From Science Daily

“They are going to send a lot of their manufacturing to the United States—pharmaceuticals, gold smelting, railway equipment.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The Japanese are investing in U.S. smelting of copper, a critical mineral, and a lithium-ion-phosphate processing plant.

From MarketWatch

The US Treasury Secretary slammed export curbs imposed by Beijing last week on technologies used for rare-earth mining, smelting, and other processing steps.

From Barron's

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.