Meanings
smelt1
plural smelts
- 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.
- obsoleteA fool; a simpleton.
These direct Men, they are no Men of fashion, Talk what you will, this is a very Smelt
c. 1615–1616, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Loves Pilgramage, a Comedy”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)
smelt2
- participlepastsimple past and past participle of smell
smelt3
plural smelts
- countableuncountableAny 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, Wiley, →ISBN, 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.
3 more examples
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, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, 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).
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
smelt · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)meld-
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)méldeti
- Proto-Germanic*smeltaną
- Proto-Germanic*smeltaz
- Proto-West Germanic*smelt
- Old Englishsmelt
- Middle Englishsmelt
- Englishsmelt
From Middle English smelt, from Old English smelt, from Proto-West Germanic *smelt, from Proto-Germanic *smeltaz.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →smelt · verb
- Middle Englishsmelte
- Englishsmelt
From very early Middle English smelte; likely to derive from Old English, but not recorded.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →smelt · noun, verb
- Proto-Germanic*smeltaną“to melt”
- Proto-West Germanic*smeltan
- Old Saxonsmeltan
- Old Dutch*smeltan
- Middle Low Germansmelten“to melt”
- Middle Dutchsmelten“to melt”
- Englishsmelt
From Middle Dutch smelten (“to melt”) or Middle Low German smelten (“to melt”), from Old Dutch *smeltan or Old Saxon smeltan, both from Proto-West Germanic *smeltan, from Proto-Germanic *smeltaną (“to melt”). Related to English melt and Old English meltan (“to melt”). Cognate to Dutch smelten, German schmelzen.
More words from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German, Old Dutch
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek χωνεύω
- χωνεύω (khōneúō)to fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
Bulgarian ко́рюшка, плавка
- ко́рюшка (kórjuška)fish of the family Osmeridae
- плавка (plavka)any of the molten liquids involved in these processes
- стопилка (stopilka)any of the molten liquids involved in these processes
- стопявам (stopjavam)to fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
Catalan eperlà
- eperlàfish of the family Osmeridae
Chinese Mandarin 胡瓜魚 /胡瓜鱼, 冶煉 /冶炼
- 胡瓜魚 /胡瓜鱼 (húguāyú)fish of the family Osmeridae
- 冶煉 /冶炼 (yěliàn)to fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
- 熔煉 /熔炼 (róngliàn)to fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
Czech koruška, tavit (rudu)
- koruškafish of the family Osmeridae
- tavit (rudu)to fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
Dutch smelten
- smeltenany of the molten liquids involved in these processes
Estonian tint
- tintfish of the family Osmeridae
Finnish kuore, sula
- kuorefish of the family Osmeridae
- sulaany of the molten liquids involved in these processes
- sulattaato fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
French éperlan
- éperlanfish of the family Osmeridae
German Stint, Schmelze
- Stintfish of the family Osmeridae
- Schmelzeany of the molten liquids involved in these processes
- verschmelzento fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
Indonesian melebur
- meleburto fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
Irish cualarach, smealt
- cualarachfish of the family Osmeridae
- smealtfish of the family Osmeridae
Italian sperlano, fondere
- sperlanofish of the family Osmeridae
- fondereto fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
Japanese 胡瓜魚
- 胡瓜魚 (kyūriuo)fish of the family Osmeridae
Māori ngaore, paraki
- ngaorefish of the family Osmeridae
- parakifish of the family Osmeridae
- rangiririfish of the family Osmeridae
- kehakehafish of the family Osmeridae
Polish stynka
- stynkafish of the family Osmeridae
Portuguese fundir
- fundirto fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
Russian ко́рюшка, распла́в
- ко́рюшка (kórjuška)fish of the family Osmeridae
- распла́в (raspláv)any of the molten liquids involved in these processes
- спла́вить (splávitʹ)to fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
- сплавля́ть (splavljátʹ)to fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
Scottish Gaelic dubh-bhreac
- dubh-bhreacfish of the family Osmeridae
Spanish eperlano, fundir
- eperlanofish of the family Osmeridae
- fundirto fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
- soldarto fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
- copelarto fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
Swedish nors
- norsfish of the family Osmeridae
Tagalog tugnawin
- tugnawinto fuse produce metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves heating and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal
Welsh brwyniad, gwyniad Ebrill
- brwyniadfish of the family Osmeridae
- gwyniad Ebrillfish of the family Osmeridae
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with smelt
All rhymes →Cite this entry
smelt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smelt
“smelt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smelt. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “smelt,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smelt.
Source: smelt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.