smelt

¹ 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.

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smelt ² American  

[smelt] / smɛlt /

noun

smelts plural

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.

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smelt ³ American  

[smelt] / smɛlt /

verb

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

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smelt ¹ British  

/ smɛlt /

verb

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

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smelt ² British  

/ smɛlt /

verb

1. a past tense and past participle of smell

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smelt ³ 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

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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.

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Etymology

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”; see origin at melt ¹,

Origin of smelt²

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

Explanation

No, this verb doesn't involve using your nose. When you smelt metal, you remove it from ore, or rock. Heat is required to smelt iron. Smelt looks a lot like melt and that is an easy way to remember what this process involves. To smelt metal, you have to heat the rock, which is called ore, until the metal inside it melts or liquefies. That metal is the part that has use and value, but hard work is needed to extract it.

Example Sentences

Various types of native fish have suffered declines, including steelhead trout, white sturgeon and longfin smelt.

From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026

Look no further than GameStop’s $56 billion bid for eBay, which is the equivalent of a smelt swallowing a whale.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026

In my family, everyone new to the table — new partners, neighbors, friends — must try a smelt.

From Salon • Dec. 14, 2025

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife wrote that it is concerned about weakened protections for winter-run and spring-run chinook salmon, steelhead trout, delta smelt and longfin smelt.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 3, 2025

The rain smelt of moss and earth and of the black bark of trees.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

Related Words

• bake
• boil
• broil
• grill
• ignite
• melt
• reheat
• roast
• sear
• steam
• thaw
• toast
• warm