society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with metal > [noun] > extraction from ore > smelting > part of process (3)
A process of the nature of that resulting from the operation of leaven on dough or on saccharine liquids. Iron-smelting: see quot. 1791. Obsolete.
The process or action of the verb; spec. as applied to iron ore (see sinter, n. 3). Frequently attributive.
In smelting: the action or process of an ore or sinter releasing its impurities in the form of liquid slag without the addition of a separate flux…