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dross

 - 4 dictionary results
Blacksmiths & Foundry
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dross

  [draws, dros]
–noun
1. waste matter; refuse.
2. Metallurgy. a waste product taken off molten metal during smelting, essentially metallic in character.
3. British. coal of little value.
Use dross in a Sentence
Origin:
bef. 1050; ME dros(se), OE drōs; c. MD droes dregs; cf. ME drōsen, OE drōsna; c. MHG truosen husks
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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Blacksmiths & Foundry
Tongs ladles anvils forges hammers tools fabrication stakes vices kits
www.anvils.co.uk
dross   (drŏs, drôs)   
n.  

  1. Waste or impure matter: discarded the dross after recycling the wood pulp.

  2. The scum that forms on the surface of molten metal as a result of oxidation.

  3. Worthless, commonplace, or trivial matter: "He was wide-awake and his mind worked clearly, purged of all dross" (Vladimir Nabokov).


[Middle English dros, from Old English drōs, dregs.]
dross'y adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

dross 
O.E. dros "dirt, dregs," from P.Gmc. *drohs- (cf. Ger. Drusen "dregs, husks"). Originally "the scum thrown off from metals in smelting." Related to O.E. dreosan "to drip."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Dross

the impurities of silver separated from the one in the process of melting (Prov. 25:4; 26:23; Ps. 119:119). It is also used to denote the base metal itself, probably before it is smelted, in Isa. 1:22, 25.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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