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• open-cut
  open-cut

  adjective

  noting or pertaining to a type of surface mining in which coal and other flat-lying mineral deposits are removed by the excavation of long, narrow trenches.
• open cut
  open cut

  noun

  civil engineering an excavation made in the open rather than in a tunnel See cut-and-cover

open-cut

American  

[oh-puhn-kuht] / ˈoʊ pənˌkʌt /

adjective

Mining.

1. noting or pertaining to a type of surface mining in which coal and other flat-lying mineral deposits are removed by the excavation of long, narrow trenches.

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open cut British  

noun

1. civil engineering an excavation made in the open rather than in a tunnel See cut-and-cover

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Etymology

Origin of open-cut

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

open-cut open cut

The couple lives in the village of Bulga, 14 miles from Singleton on the other side of the Mount Thorley Warkworth open-cut mine.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 11, 2021

A road leads to an open-cut mine in the area known as the Pilbara region located in the north-west of Western Australia, September 5, 2016.

From Reuters ● Aug. 13, 2021

Ore mined by an open-cut method was first shipped in 1925, and in the late 1930s mine owner Universal Insulation Co. merged with Zonolite co. and the mine adopted the Zonolite name.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 1, 2019

Rather than tunnelling into the ground, Mr Dunstan is open-cut mining, which involves scraping away a few inches of rock with an excavator, and then periodically investigating for opals.

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2017

The material above the rock in the open-cut sections was mostly sand.

From Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 The New York Tunnel Extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Cross-Town Tunnels. Paper No. 1158 by James H. Brace

With inoculation, pus from an infected person was gathered, either in a small vial or by passing a string through one of the sores, and then passed through an open cut in a healthy subject.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 29, 2021

An infection can occur if bacteria from the soil enters the body through an open cut or a break in the skin.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 1, 2021

From the outside, the five-story building on Carlton Way near the open cut of the 101 looks like any other upscale new construction — sans serif font, little balconies, black-painted steel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2020

Bastian Schweinsteiger, who battled on in Sunday’s final despite an open cut under his right eye, still sported a bandage on the spot.

From New York Times ● Jul. 15, 2014

After that time, the Spaniards, instead of building inside of the tunnel an elliptical tube, actually, by a hundred years of misapplied labor, turned the tunnel into an open cut.

From Mexico and its Religion With Incidents of Travel in That Country During Parts of the Years 1851-52-53-54, and Historical Notices of Events Connected With Places Visited by Robert A. Wilson