smelter

American  

[smel-ter] / ˈsmɛl tər /

noun

1. a person or thing that smelts.

2. a person who owns or works in a place where ores are smelted.

3. a place where ores are smelted.

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smelter British  

/ ˈsmɛltə /

noun

1. a person engaged in smelting

2. Also called: smeltery.  an industrial plant in which smelting is carried out

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Etymology

Origin of smelter

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English; smelt ¹ + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Billions of pounds of alumina barged upriver will feed the smelter, while the metal will typically leave by rail or truck, Plotkin said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

Its plant will neighbor the smelter at the Tulsa Port of Inola, an industrial park on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System that links New Orleans to the Great Plains.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

His family helped lure the smelter and is investing alongside it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

Farther away, at the Glogow smelter, two workers in protective suits, armed with long lances, open huge furnaces where the ore is melted.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

His invention, it turned out, could also cleanse noxious vapors and particulates from smelter effluent, coal particles from mine air, and much more.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik