miner
[mahy-ner]
- Also called mineworker. a person who works in a mine, especially a commercial mine producing coal or metallic ores.
- a mechanical device used in mining: a miner for extracting ores from the ocean floor.
- any of several Australian birds of the genus Manorina, feeding on honey and typically having a loud call.
- any of various insect larvae that create tunnels in the parenchyma of leaves.
- (formerly) a person who places or lays military or naval mines.
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Origin of miner
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for miner
Contemporary Examples
If a woman wants to be a teacher rather than a miner, or a veterinarian rather than a petroleum engineer, more power to her.
“She called me a couple of years before she died,” Miner said.
“Hers is not a story about a victim but a protagonist that makes bad choices,” Miner says.
Stanley also took on the cases of the mother and siblings of a miner killed at Upper Big Branch.
The miner does that journey to and fro, and sandwiched in between there are seven and a half hours of savage work.
Historical Examples
Honestly, I am glad to find you here at your work in your miner's clothes.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Not one has been found by a man of high education as a miner or geologist.
Hittel on Gold Mines and MiningJohn S. Hittell
The moment it opened its mouth the miner sprang from his chair as if he had been shot.
The Monkey That Would Not KillHenry Drummond
The miner then went into the house and shut the door, leaving the monkey outside.
The Monkey That Would Not KillHenry Drummond
Every miner travelling with gold seemed to me a possible victim for my crime.
Murder PointConingsby Dawson
miner
- a person who works in a mine
- Also called: continuous miner a large machine for the automatic extraction of minerals, esp coal, from a mine
- any of various insects or insect larvae that bore into and feed on plant tissuesSee also leaf miner
- Australian any of several honey-eaters of the genus Manorina, esp M. melanocephala (noisy miner), of scrub regionsSee noisy miner
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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
Word Origin and History for miner
n.
late 13c., from Old French minour (13c.), from miner "to mine" (see mine (n.1)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper