smelt

views updated May 18 2018

smelt1 / smelt/ • v. [tr.] [often as n.] (smelting) extract (metal) from its ore by a process involving heating and melting: tin smelting. ∎  extract a metal from (ore) in this way.smelt2 • past and past participle of smell.smelt3 • n. (pl. same or smelts / smelts/ ) a small silvery food fish (family Osmeridae, Osmerus and other genera) that lives in both marine and fresh water and is sometimes fished commercially.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

smelt

views updated Jun 08 2018

smelt Small, silvery food fish related to salmon and trout. It lives in the n Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and in North American inland waters. Family Osmeridae.

World Encyclopedia

smelt

views updated May 23 2018

smelt2 fuse (ore) to obtain the metal. XV (implied in smelter). — MLG., MDu. smelten = OHG. smelzan (G. schmelzen), f. *smelt-, var. of the base of MELT.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD

smelt

views updated May 11 2018

smelt1 small fish of the genus Osmerus. OE. smelt, smylt, obscurely rel. to similar Continental names for species of fish; cf. SMOLT.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD

smelt

views updated May 11 2018

smelt See OSMERIDAE.

A Dictionary of Zoology MICHAEL ALLABY

smelt

views updated Jun 27 2018

smelt Small oily fish, Osmerus spp.

A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition DAVID A. BENDER

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