smelt
smelt Lexical Profile
smelt Game Scores & Validity
• verb
British To perceive the odor or scent of (serving as the past tense and past participle of 'smell').
"As soon as she walked into the historic bakery, she smelt the warm aroma of fresh bread and cinnamon."
To extract a metal from its ore by a process involving heating and melting.
"The industrial facility was designed to smelt copper ore transported from the nearby mountains."
• noun
A small, silvery marine and freshwater fish of the family Osmeridae, noted for its slender body and an odor that is often compared to fresh cucumbers.
"Every spring, local fishermen gather at the river mouth to catch smelt with dip nets during their spawning run."
Word Nuance & Usage
The word 'smelt' commonly functions as a noun for a type of small fish and a verb meaning to extract metal from ore; it is also widely used in British English as the past tense and past participle of 'smell' (whereas American English prefers 'smelled').
• Rhymes for smelt
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
The metallurgical verb derives from Middle Dutch 'smelten' (to melt), related to Old English 'smeltan'. The fish noun comes from Old English 'smelt', possibly related to 'smooth'. The olfactory sense is a Middle English formation of 'smell' + '-t'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.