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 4 of 5: from “pineapple opal” to “spavin”.
- pineapple opal noun A large raw opal spheroidal gemstone with pineapple-like projection points
- pipe noun An elongated or irregular body or vein of ore.
- pit boss noun A direct overseer of laborers in a mining operation.
- pitch noun The limit of ground set to a miner who receives a share of the ore taken out.
- pitfall noun Subsidence below ground in a mine, which can cause the ground level above to drop.
- placer adj alluvial; occurring in a deposit of sand or earth on a river-bed or bank, particularly with reference to precious metals such as gold or…
- plum verb To plumb.
- plumming noun The operation of finding, by means of a mine dial (compass), the place where to sink an air shaft, or to bring an adit to the work, or to…
- pocket noun A cavity in a rock containing a nugget of gold, or other mineral; a small body of ore contained in such a cavity.
- pothole noun A shallow hole dug for the purpose of prospecting for opal or gold.
- pounce noun Synonym of bump (“sudden movement of underground strata”).
- power shovel noun A bucket-equipped machine, usually electrically powered, used for digging and loading earth or fragmented rock and for mineral extraction.
- powerful adj Large; capacious; said of veins of ore.
- presplit verb To shape the outcome of an explosive blast by forming cracks in advance.
- pricking noun A nicking.
- prill noun A nugget of virgin metal.
- prospect verb To determine which minerals or metals are present in a location.
- pulsator noun A jigging machine used in the South African diamond industry.
- put verb To convey coal in the mine, as for example from the working to the tramway.
- putter noun One who pushes the small wagons in a coal mine, to transport the coal mined by the getter.
- quarry noun A site for mining stone, such as limestone, or slate.
- quick adj productive; not "dead" or barren
- rack verb To wash (metals, ore, etc.) on a rack.
- raise noun A shaft or a winze that is dug from below, for purposes such as ventilation, local extraction of ore, or exploration.
- rake noun A fissure or mineral vein of ore traversing the strata vertically, or nearly so.
- ramble noun A bed of shale over the seam of coal.
- random noun The direction of a rake-vein.
- rapper noun A swinging knocker for making signals at the mouth of a shaft.
- recovery noun The extraction of an ore from a mine, or of a metal from an ore
- reed noun A tube containing the train of powder for igniting the charge in blasting.
- rejig verb To separate or sort (ore) again in a jigger or sieve.
- return noun A roadway along which foul air travels from the face on its way out of the mine.
- ribbed adj intercalated with slate; said of a seam of coal.
- rid noun Loose earth, rubble, etc., on the surface of a quarry which must be removed before digging can begin; rid-work.
- rider noun Rock material in a vein of ore, dividing it.
- riffle noun A trough or sluice having cleats, grooves, or steps across the bottom for holding quicksilver and catching particles of gold when…
- ringer noun A crowbar.
- ripper noun A hook-like tool used to tear away ore, rock, etc.
- roach noun A bed or stratum of some mineral.
- rock glass noun Metastable glass of volcanic or dyke origin.
- rockpicker noun A person, machine, or machine component that cleans out the rocks during ore dressing.
- rockpicking noun Cleaning out the rocks during ore dressing. Done by a person, machine, or machine component.
- roke noun A measurement of coal ore.
- roof noun The surface or bed of rock immediately overlying a bed of coal or a flat vein.
- roofbolt noun A safety bolt installed in the roof of an underground mine.
- roofstone noun The stone or rock layer immediately above a coal seam.
- room noun An area for working in a coal mine.
- room and pillar noun A variant of breast stoping in which the mined material is extracted across a horizontal plane, creating horizontal arrays of rooms and…
- run noun The horizontal distance to which a drift may be carried, either by licence of the proprietor of a mine or by the nature of the formation…
- runround noun A track arrangement (usually a loop) that allows mine cars to be redirected without reversing.
- saddle noun Synonym of saddle reef (“a saddle-shaped bedded mineral (usually gold-bearing quartz) vein occurring along the crest of an anticline or…
- salt verb To blast metal into (as a portion of a mine) in order to cause to appear to be a productive seam.
- saucisse noun A long and slender pipe or bag, made of cloth well pitched, or of leather, filled with powder, and used to communicate fire to mines…
- scall noun Loose ground.
- schlich noun The finer portion of crushed ore, as of gold, lead, or tin, separated by the water in certain wet processes.
- scoop driver noun One who operates an automated mining scoop.
- scove noun Rich, pure tin ore.
- scram verb To mine for ore on a small scale, especially from mines previously been worked on where most of the ore is believed to have been removed.
- screen noun A frame supporting a mesh of bars or wires used to classify fragments of stone by size, allowing the passage of fragments whose a diameter…
- screener noun A person employed to filter the mined coal through a metal screen to remove impurities.
- selvage noun That part of a lode adjacent to the walls on either side.
- semi noun An intermediate in the production of end-use goods.
- sett noun A mine or set of mines on lease.
- shackler noun A person who couples wagons together.
- shaken adj Of something mined such as coal or ore: broken into pieces.
- shamble noun One of a succession of niches or platforms, one above another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform to platform, and thus…
- shear verb To make a vertical cut in coal.
- shearing noun The process of making a vertical side cutting in working into a face of coal.
- shield noun A framework used to protect workmen in making an adit under ground, and capable of being pushed along as excavation progresses.
- shift noun A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.
- shifter noun A person employed to repair the horseways and other passages, and keep them unobstructed.
- shoad noun Loose fragments (often of metal ore) mixed with earth.
- shoot noun A vein of ore running in the same general direction as the lode.
- shotfirer noun A person employed to prepare, position and detonate explosives to demolish buildings and structures, or dislodge rocks and soil.
- shotfiring noun The work of preparing, positioning and detonating explosives to demolish buildings and structures, or dislodge rocks and soil.
- show noun A pale blue flame at the top of a candle flame, indicating the presence of firedamp.
- sidetrack noun A smaller tunnel or well drilled as an auxiliary off a main tunnel or well.
- sink noun An excavation smaller than a shaft.
- sit noun Subsidence of the roof of a coal mine.
- size verb To sift (pieces of ore or metal) in order to separate the finer from the coarser parts.
- skiffling noun Rough dressing by knocking off knobs or projections; knobbing.
- skim pit noun An open-air pit into which a mixture of oil and water is pumped and left to separate so that the oil can be extracted.
- skip noun A transportation container in a mine, usually for ore or mullock.
- slack noun Small coal; coal dust.
- slackline noun A length of cable, rope, or webbing that hangs loosely from its points of suspension.
- slant noun A run: a heading driven diagonally between the dip and strike of a coal seam.
- slicken adj Sleek; smooth.
- slip noun A dislocation of a lead, destroying continuity.
- sluice noun A long box or trough through which water flows, used for washing auriferous earth.
- slurry noun Liquid waste from some types of mining, such as mountain top removal mining, usually very toxic and stored nearby in large dams.
- smasher noun A person employed to break up waste rock.
- smeddum noun Smitham.
- smut noun Bad, soft coal containing earthy matter, found in the immediate locality of faults.
- snap tin noun A miner's metal lunchbox.
- soam noun A short rope used to pull the tram in a coal-mine.
- sole noun The seat or bottom of a mine; applied to horizontal veins or lodes.
- sollar noun A platform in a shaft, especially one of those between the series of ladders in a shaft.
- spad noun A nail one or two inches long, of iron, brass, tin, or tinner iron, with a hole through the flattened head, used to mark stations in…
- spake noun A type of wagon on rails used for carrying workers in and out of a colliery.
- spavin noun The stratum of earth underneath a coal deposit.