a metal-bearing mineral or rock, or a native metal, that can be mined at a profit.
a mineral or natural product serving as a source of some nonmetallic substance, as sulfur.
a bronze coin of Norway, one 100th of a krone.
a zinc or bronze coin of Denmark, one 100th of a krone.
a bronze coin of Sweden, one 100th of a krona.
a fractional currency of the Faeroe Islands, one 100th of a krona.
Ore deposits are generally mined, and the ore is processed to recover the material.
before 900; conflation of Middle English ore, Old English ōra ore, unreduced metal; and Middle English or(e) ore, metal, Old English ār brass, cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German ēr, Old Norse eir, Gothic aiz; compare Latin aes bronze, coin, money
First recorded in 1600–10; ultimately from Latin aureus “a gold coin of ancient Rome”; see aureus ( def. )
Ore is a rock that contains minerals like iron, gold, or lead. The seven dwarfs in the movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" worked mining ore. Another meaning of ore is a Swedish unit of money. The krona is made up of 100 ore. In this use, ore is usually spelled with an umlaut over the o — öre. In English, ore is most commonly used to mean a material from which valuable metals or gems can be extracted. In Old English, ora means unwrought metal and ar means bronze. Both root words are thought to have influenced this sense of ore.
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Metal mining is energy-intensive, and conventional estimates for its carbon footprint attribute most of its emissions to heavy equipment on-site, as well as diesel transport required to haul ore away.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
The furnaces operate at extreme temperatures, with iron ore and coking coal poured in at the top and liquid iron extracted at the bottom.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
More than a valuable economic resource, the dark ore has become one of the pillars of Polish identity -- with miners long wielding political influence.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Two more ships left for China loaded with Iranian iron ore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
“Where the grass grows thick and animals refuse to burrow, there is ore below.”
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
Now the price of the former is four öre, about one cent, and of the latter a half cent.
From Norwegian Life by Clough, Ethlyn T.
Then she gave the anxious countryman a tallow candle, and, as she slipped out again, she put sixty-three öre into the hand of the stranger by the stove.
From Norse Tales and Sketches by Kielland, Alexander Lange
“One rigsdaler and fifty öre each—three rigsdalers in all.”
From Up The Baltic Young America in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark by Optic, Oliver
That would be thirty-two öre for us all, and we must save our money to spend in the Djurgård.
From Gerda in Sweden by McDonald, Etta Austin Blaisdell
But the anxious countryman tapped Madame on the shoulder with his tallow candle; he trembled for his sixty-three öre.
From Norse Tales and Sketches by Kielland, Alexander Lange
When Ed’s health began to fade in 2023, his son, Bryan, arranged with a Keizer, Ore., store called Bricks & Minifigs—the local franchise of a nationwide chain of Lego resellers—to sell the collection on consignment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
The driver was a 21-year-old man from Yuba City, and the two passengers were a 17-year-old boy from San José and a 27-year-old man from Salem, Ore. All three died in the crash.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
Before that, she was a corporate beat reporter in Chicago covering restaurants and the food industry and worked at newspapers in Detroit, Portland, Ore., and the San Francisco Bay Area.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
The first Bananas broadcast on ABC will take place at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., June 27 and 28.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026
Emily P., fears chivalry of men, 382; in Ore., 895.Bissell,
From The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV by Harper, Ida Husted
The former provides access to rare earth ores, and the latter can process ores into usable products.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
And certainly not if the ores will be sent to China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
Africa's exports to China are dominated by minerals and raw materials, such as crude oil and metallic ores.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
Valor, a new company, launched to extract critical minerals from waste and ores using electrochemical liquid-liquid extraction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
When she wasn’t reading, she was drawing ores or hobbits.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
