SMELT
What does "SMELT" mean?
To extract metal from its ore by heating and melting.
Meanings
- To melt or fuse ore in order to separate and extract the metal it contains. Ancient peoples learned to smelt copper from green rock. technical
- A small, slender silvery fish of cold northern waters, often eaten fried whole. We caught a bucket of smelt off the pier.
- A chiefly British past tense and past participle of 'smell'. The kitchen smelt of cinnamon all morning. informal
Did you know?
- The fish and the furnace word are unrelated twins: the metal verb comes from Dutch 'smelten' (to melt), while the fish 'smelt' is a separate Old English name some link to the fish's strong scent.
Word origin
The metalworking verb is from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch 'smelten', to melt; the fish name is a separate Old English word 'smelt', possibly linked to the fish's distinctive smell.
Remember it
To SMELT metal you MELT it - the verb literally hides 'melt' after the S.
A little poem
The furnace takes the dull and stubborn stone
and argues with it, white-hot, until at last
a thin bright thread of copper answers back.
tercet
Wordplay
- The ironworker went fishing on his break - he could smelt and smelt all day.
What it teaches
Worth often hides inside dull rock; heat enough to part it from what it isn't.
Quick facts
What does SMELT mean?
To extract metal from its ore by heating and melting.
Is SMELT a valid word?
Yes — SMELT is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is SMELT?
SMELT has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does SMELT come from?
The metalworking verb is from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch 'smelten', to melt; the fish name is a separate Old English word 'smelt', possibly linked to the fish's distinctive smell.
What can SMELT teach us?
Worth often hides inside dull rock; heat enough to part it from what it isn't.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.