This page gathers the 508 dictionary entries belonging to the domain “Mining”, as labelled by Wiktionary. Each word leads to its full entry: definitions, etymology, pronunciation, examples. Page 3 of 5: from “grubstake” to “pinch out”.
- grubstake noun Money, materials, tools, food etc. provided to a prospector in return for a share in future profits.
- gulf noun A large deposit of ore in a lode.
- gumming noun The manual removal of clay, or "gum", from cut coal.
- gurt noun A gutter or channel for water, hewn out of the bottom of a working drift.
- hade verb To slope or incline from the vertical.
- half-marrow noun Either of a pair of young boys employed as putters, pushing wagons in the mine, and dividing their earnings.
- hanger-on noun An onsetter.
- hanging wall noun the upper wall of inclined vein, or that which hangs over the miner's head when working in the vein.
- hardground noun A hard stratum of rock other than coal.
- hardrock noun Rock containing ore from which minerals are extracted.
- hatch noun An opening into, or in search of, a mine.
- haul truck noun An off-road, heavy-duty dump truck specifically engineered for use in high-production mining and exceptionally demanding construction…
- haulback noun A method of surface mining where overburden (the material on top of the coal or ore) is transported from an area and then hauled back after…
- haulier noun A miner who hauls coal from the coalface to the bottom of the shaft.
- hazel noun Freestone.
- heading noun A gallery, drift, or adit in a mine, particularly one driving through a solid body of coal or ore; also, the end of a drift or gallery; the…
- headsman noun A labourer in a colliery who transports the coal from the workings to the horseway, and who is oftentimes assisted by a younger worker…
- headstock noun A headframe.
- headway noun A crossheading.
- heapstead noun The elevated framework of wood or iron at bank, to the top of which the pit is continued above the surface, to provide the necessary height…
- heave verb To displace (a vein, stratum).
- hitch noun A hole cut into the wall of a mine on which timbers are rested.
- hitcher noun An onsetter.
- hoistroom noun A space at the top of a mineshaft that holds the elevator to lift humans and equipment using a pulley and cable.
- horse noun A mass of earthy matter, or rock of the same character as the wall rock, occurring in the course of a vein, as of coal or ore; hence, to…
- hurrier noun A child employed in a coal mine to drag baskets or small wagons full of coal from the coal face where it was mined, up to the surface.
- hurry verb To put: to convey coal in the mine, e.g. from the working to the tramway.
- hush noun Water which has been used to clear the soil off of some (area of) rock or ore.
- hushing noun The use of a heavy discharge of water to uncover a mineral vein or wash ore.
- hutch verb To wash (ore) in a box or jig.
- inbye adv Towards the coal face.
- inset noun An opening partway down a shaft, giving access to the intermediate levels.
- isohume noun An isoline connecting places in which the coal seam has equal moisture content.
- jack noun A wedge for separating rocks rent by blasting.
- jackanapes noun A small pulley which keeps a rope in line when lifting ore, water, etc., from a mine.
- jackhole noun A hole that is created using a jack or wedge.
- jamb noun Any thick mass of rock that prevents miners from following the lode or vein.
- jeweller's shop noun An exceptionally rich pocket or seam of gold-bearing ore, or, of high-quality opal; a find so rich, dazzling, and valuable that it…
- jibhead noun The head of a jib (arm of a crane).
- jig verb To sort or separate, as ore in a jigger or sieve.
- jigger noun The sieve used in sorting or separating ore.
- jigging noun The act of using a jig; the act of separating ore with a jigger, or wire-bottomed sieve, which is moved up and down in water.
- jigman noun Synonym of jigger (“one who sorts ore by jigging”).
- jump noun A dislocation in a stratum; a fault.
- keeve noun A large vat used in dressing ores.
- kettle bottom noun A smooth cylindrical piece of petrified wood in the ceiling of a mine which may drop down and injure or kill miners
- knobbing noun The process of rough dressing stone; the act of cutting off projecting points from quarried stone.
- lacing noun Lagging, or cross-pieces placed to prevent ore from falling into a passage.
- lander noun A person who waits at the mouth of the shaft to receive the kibble of ore.
- latcher noun A mining surveyor.
- lath noun One of the sharp-edged, thick planks driven forward to hold back loose earth or mud when digging the way through for tunnelling or spiling.…
- launder noun A trough used by miners to receive powdered ore from the box where it is beaten, or for carrying water to the stamps, or other apparatus…
- lead noun A lode.
- leader noun A branch or small vein, not important in itself, but indicating the proximity of a better one.
- leap noun A fault.
- lithogeochemistry noun The scientific study of the composition, structure, properties and reactions of stone and mineral from the earth.
- lode noun A vein of metallic ore that lies within definite boundaries, or within a fissure.
- lodge noun The space at the mouth of a level next to the shaft, widened to permit wagons to pass, or ore to be deposited for hoisting; called also…
- lofting noun Lagging or longitudinal timber resting on caps to support the roof of a working.
- log noun A weight or block near the free end of a hoisting rope to prevent it from being drawn through the sheave.
- long Tom noun A device formerly used in California for washing gold from the earth or mineral spoil with which it is excavated. It is a sloping wooden…
- lum noun A ventilating chimney over the shaft of a mine.
- marrow noun A miner's mate or assistant.
- maundril noun A pick with two prongs, used for prying.
- metal noun The ore from which a metal is derived.
- metalman noun A workman who takes the roof down to give the miners more height to work in.
- midfeather noun A support for the centre of a tunnel.
- mill noun An excavation in rock, transverse to the workings, from which material for filling is obtained.
- monton noun A heap of ore; a mass undergoing the process of amalgamation.
- mudcap noun An explosive charge covered in mud, sand, or similar material before detonation, instead of being placed in a borehole.
- mullock verb To clear waste material out of a mine.
- nanny noun Synonym of sylvester (“device for pulling out pit props”).
- nether noun A trouble; a fault or dislocation in a seam of coal.
- nick verb To make a cut at the side of the face.
- nicking noun The cutting made by the hewer at the side of the face.
- nip noun A more or less gradual thinning out of a stratum.
- nip-out noun The situation where the roof and thill approach each other, diminishing the usual thickness of the coal seam or extinguishing it completely.
- nog noun One of the square logs of wood used in a pile to support the roof of a mine.
- noodler noun A fossicker, someone who scours mine dumps for valuables.
- off-handed adj Offhand.
- offtake noun The removal of oil (or an industrial chemical) from a storage facility.
- onsetter noun A worker at the bottom of a mineshaft who exchanges the empty and full corves.
- opal pineapple noun Alternative form of pineapple opal.
- openwork noun A quarry; an open cut.
- operator noun The company that operates a mine; often the same one that owns the mine.
- ore car noun An open-top bulk material car of heavy construction for carrying dense ores, usually emptying through one or more hoppers.
- outbye adv In the direction away from the coal face.
- overcast noun A place where one roadway crosses another, specifically where an airway was built across the top of another airway for ventilation purposes.
- overhand adj Done from below upward.
- paddock verb To excavate washdirt (“earth rich enough in metal to pay for washing”) from (a superficial deposit).
- panel noun A heap of dressed ore.
- passby noun A siding for coal tubs.
- patcher noun The driver's assistant or lackey in a team of miners.
- pay dirt noun Earth which contains profitable quantities of ore.
- paystreak noun The zone, parallel to the walls of a vein, in which the ore is concentrated, or any narrow streak of paying ore in less valuable material.
- pentice noun An unexcavated portion of a shaftway, intended to afford protection from falling debris to workers at the bottom of the shaft during…
- permissible noun Any tool or device permitted for use in potentially explosive mine environments.
- petanque noun Any of various ores, including forms of silver sulfide (such as stephanite) and the copper ore tetrahedrite.
- pilot noun The heading or excavation of relatively small dimensions, first made in the driving of a larger tunnel.
- pinch out noun A volume of rock or oil trapped or isolated between strata that have pinched it out.