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smelt

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(smelt)

any of various fishes (order Salmoniformes); esp., any of a family (Osmeridae) of small, silvery, salmonoid food fishes found in northern seas or lakes: most run up rivers to spawn

Origin: ME < OE, akin to Norw smelt, whiting, Du smelt, Ger schmelte, sand eel

transitive verb

to melt or fuse (ore, etc.) so as to separate impurities from pure metal
to refine or extract (metal) in this way

Origin: MDu or MLowG smelten, akin to Ger schmelzen < IE *(s)mel-, to crush, grind fine > melt, malt

intransitive verb

to undergo fusing or smelting

transitive verb, intransitive verb

Brit. smell

See smelt in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb smelt·ed, smelt·ing, smelts smelts

verb, transitive

To melt or fuse (ores) in order to separate the metallic constituents.

verb, intransitive

To melt or fuse. Used of ores.

Origin:

Origin: Dutch

Origin: or Low German smelten

Origin: , from Middle Dutch

Origin: or Middle Low German; see mel-¹ in Indo-European roots

noun pl. smelts smelts or smelt

Any of various small silvery marine and freshwater food fishes of the family Osmeridae, found in cold waters of the Northern Hemisphere, especially Osmerus mordax of North America and O. eperlanus of Europe.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English

Origin: , from Old English; see mel-¹ in Indo-European roots

verb

A past tense and a past participle of smell.

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