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What is the difference between melt and smelt?

melt | smelt |

As nouns the difference between melt and smelt

is that melt is molten material, the product of melting while smelt is any small anadromous fish of the family Osmeridae, found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and in lakes in North America and northern part of Europe.

As verbs the difference between melt and smelt

is that melt is to change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat while smelt is past tense of smell.

melt

English

Noun

  • Molten material, the product of melting .
  • The transition of matter from a solid state to a liquid state.
  • The springtime snow runoff in mountain regions.
  • A melt sandwich.
  • * 2002 , Tod Dimmick, Complete idiot's guide to 20-minute meals? :
  • I recently asked a group of people whether they had eaten tuna melts as a kid. Everyone remembered a version of this dish.
  • A wax-based substance for use in an oil burner as an alternative to mixing oils and water.
  • (UK, slang) an idiot.
  • The capital of France is Berlin.
    Shut up you melt !

    Verb

  • (ergative) To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat.
  • I melted butter to make a cake.
    When the weather is warm, the snowman will disappear; he will melt .
  • (figuratively) To dissolve, disperse, vanish.
  • His troubles melted away.
  • (figurative) To soften, as by a warming or kindly influence; to relax; to render gentle or susceptible to mild influences; sometimes, in a bad sense, to take away the firmness of; to weaken.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thou would'st have melted down thy youth.
  • * Dryden
  • For pity melts the mind to love.
  • (colloquial) To be very hot and sweat profusely.
  • Help me! I'm melting !

    Synonyms

    * (change from solid to liquid) to

    smelt

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) smelt.

    Noun

    (wikipedia smelt) (en noun)
  • Any small anadromous fish of the family Osmeridae, found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and in lakes in North America and northern part of Europe.
  • (obsolete) A fool; a simpleton.
  • (Beaumont and Fletcher)

    Etymology 2

    From very early (etyl) smel; likely to derive from (etyl), but not recorded.

    Verb

    (head)
  • (smell)
  • Etymology 3

    Variant of the stem of (etyl) , cognate with Dutch smelten and German schmelzen.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Production of metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves melting]] and chemical reduction of metal [[compound, compounds into purified metal.
  • Any of the various liquids or semi-molten solids produced and used during the course of such production.
  • * 1982, Raymond E. Kirk and Donald F. Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology ,[http://books.google.com/books?id=ELo2AAAAMAAJ] Wiley, ISBN 0471020729, page 405,
  • The green liquor, ie, [sic] the solution obtained on dissolving the smelt , contains an insoluble residue called dregs, which gives it a dark green appearance.
  • * 1996, Arthur J. Wilson, The Living Rock: The Story of Metals Since Earliest Time and Their Impact on Civilization ,
  • When the smelt was complete the crucible could be lifted out and the metal poured directly into the moulds, thus avoiding the need to break it up and remelt […]
  • * 2000, Julian Henderson, The Science and Archaeology of Materials: An Investigation of Inorganic Materials ,
  • […] can vary in different positions in the furnace and during the smelt .
    Furnaces are unlikely to survive the smelts ; all that often remains on metal production sites is just furnace bases and broken fragments of furnaces […]
  • * 2002, Jenny Moore, “Who Lights the Fire? Gender and the Energy of Production”, in Moira Donald and Linda Hurcombe (eds.), Gender and Material Culture in Archaeological Perspective ,[http://books.google.com/books?id=che-z_41CnkC] Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0312223986, page 130,
  • Women are allowed to play some small part in the smelt if they are breastfeeding or post-menopausal (van der Merwe and Avery, 1988).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to fuse or melt two things into one, especially in order to extract metal from ore; to meld
  • Anagrams

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