ore

plural ores

1. countableuncountableRock or other material that contains valuable or utilitarian materials; primarily a rock containing metals or gems for which it is typically mined and processed.

   Stepnohirsk grew into a town from the village of Sukhoivanivka in the 1980s after vast deposits of manganese ore nearby were discovered.

   2024 February 4, Sergey Panashchuk, Jannik Läkamp, Rebecca Jayne Husselbee, “On frontline in Ukrainian town making ‘final stand’ against Putin where bodies lie everywhere & shelling never stops”, in The Sun, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2024

   2 more examples

   They general­ly occur in the earth in what are called veins, and are seldom found in the pure metallic state, but generally in combination with some other substance, in which state they are call­ed ores.

   1846, editorial staff, “CHEMISTRY: Continued from No. 12”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 2, Issue 13, page 102

   Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.

   2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884, archived from the original on 20 Jan 2021

plural ores

1. A unit of currency used in England around the 10th to 12th centuries.

   In the time of Æthelred the Unready when the pound contained 240 pence, the ore was reckoned at 16 pence, but in earlier times there was probably much variation.

   1956, Peter Hunter Blair, An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England, London; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 295

   Synonyms: ora

alternative woar

1. archaicdialectaluncountableSeaweed, especially that which is washed up ashore.

1. historicaluncountableA type of fine wool, especially of the type historically produced in the market town of Leominster, Herefordshire.

   But then the ore of Lempſter / By Got is never a Sempſter; / That when he is ſpun, ore did, / Yet match him with hir thrid

   a. 1638 (date written), Ben Jonson, “For the Honour of Wales”, in The Works of Beniamin Jonson, […] (Third Folio), London: […] Thomas Hodgkin, for H[enry] Herringman, E. Brewster, T. Bassett, R[ichard] Chiswell, M. Wotton, G. Conyers, published 1692, →OCLC, page 608, column 1

1. obsoleteObsolete form of over.

   When I behold the violet paſt prime, / And ſable curls or ſiluer'd ore with white: […]

   1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 12”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC, signature B3, recto

1. alternativeAlternative form of öre.

1. A suburban area, formerly a village, in Hastings borough, East Sussex, England (OS grid ref TQ8311).
2. A river in Suffolk, England, in two sections; a non-tidal section that joins the River Alde, and a tidal section, a renaming of the Alde parallel to the coast south of Aldeburgh, passing Orford before entering the North Sea.
3. A tributary of the River Leven, Fife council area, Scotland.

1. abbreviationhobbiesAbbreviation of Oregon.