sb. pl. Mining. Also whits. [Short for tinwitts: see TIN sb. 5.] Tin ore after the first dressing: see quot. 1853.
1853. Ure, Dict. Arts (ed. 4), II. 858. Tin witts…. The clean ‘witts’ contain native oxide of tin; black tin or resin tin, and wolfram with iron and arsenical pyrites, generally containing some copper.
1855. [J. R. Leifchild], Cornwall, 208. This mixture of metallic matter, named Witts.
