vbl. sb. [f. SMELT v.]
1. The action of the verb SMELT.
1531–2. Durh. Househ. Bk. (Surtees), 78. Et Nicholao Kyrchus et socio pro smeltynge 110 ma. petr. plumbi 6s. 6d.
1582. in Trans. Jewish Hist. Soc. (1903), IV. 94. Takeinge the said vitriall or Coppris from the ure before it Come in to the first smeltinge.
a. 1691. Boyle, Wks. (1772), V. 741. What Tools are used in smelting, their Figures, use, &c.
1729. Phil. Trans., XXXVI. 32. The Dross of the Ore on smelting is called Slag.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XII. 86/2. In the smelting of copper ores, quartz is used.
1851. D. Wilson, Preh. Ann. (1863), II. III. ii. 83. Smelting and working of iron with fires of wood.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 26/1. The smelting, conducted in large blast furnaces, disengages the metal from the oxygen and earths of the ores.
fig. 1882. Froude, Carlyle, II. 130. The incompleteness of the smelting shows all the more the actual condition of his [Carlyle’s] mind.
b. A process or product of smelting.
1872. Daily News, 12 Oct., 5/4. The sulphur smoke of the smeltings kills vegetation.
2. attrib., as smelling bellows, fire, -furnace, -hearth, -house, mill, etc.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., 767. Minerall men, who have their smelting house by Derwent side.
1664. Oldenburg, in Boyle’s Wks. (1772), VI. 150. It is like the smelting miln-smoke.
1667. in Pettus, Fodinæ Reg. (1670), 35. Five Pair of large Smelting Bellows.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v. Smelt, A … Furnace … call’d, The smelting-Furnace.
1778. W. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 68. It has been carried to the smelting-house, as it came out of the earth.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 819. The mixture is calcined over a smelting fire.
1836. Penny Cycl., VI. 106/2. In the time of the Romans smelting works were carried on in the neighbourhood.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 339. What are known as smelting-ores in this district are the richer grades carrying usually 300 ounces of silver and upwards per ton.
1890. W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 100. The air driven into the smelting-hearth was cold.
