Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Smelt

Smelt (smĕlt), imp. & p. p. of Smell.

Smelt, n. [AS. smelt, smylt; akin to Dan. smelt.] 1. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of small silvery salmonoid fishes of the genus Osmerus and allied genera, which ascend rivers to spawn, and sometimes become landlocked in lakes. They are esteemed as food, and have a peculiar odor and taste.

☞ The most important species are the European smelt (Osmerus eperlans) (called also eperlan, sparling, and spirling), the Eastern American smelt (O. mordax), the California smelt (O. thalichthys), and the surf smelt (Hypomesus olidus). The name is loosely applied to various other small fishes, as the lant, the California tomcod, the spawn eater, the silverside.

2. Fig.: A gull; a simpleton. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

Sand smelt (Zoöl.), the silverside.

Smelt, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Smelted; p. pr. & vb. n. Smelting.] [Of foreign origin; cf. Sw. smälta, D. smelten, Dan. smelte, Icel. smelta, G. schmelzen OHG. smelzan, smelzen; probably akin to Gr. μέλδειν. Cf. Enamel, Melt, Mute, v. i., Smalt.] (Metal.) To melt or fuse, as, ore, for the purpose of separating and refining the metal; hence, to reduce; to refine; to flux or scorify; as, to smelt tin.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.