smelt
(For the right pronunciation of smelt, please click here.)
a kind of fish – sea & fresh water – bony, finned, scaly – looks like (resembles) and related to the salmon fish – small with dark olive green on the upper side, silver on the underside (some species have dark spots on their sides and fins) pearly covers on the gills and forked brown tail, long streamlined body with ray fins, pointed snout (= mouth and nose part), large mouth with sharp teeth on the jaws and tongue; size: 7-9 inches long (some species grow up to 1-2½ feet long), and weight: on average, 85 grams; feeds on (eats) insects, shellfish, other small fish; lives for 4-5 years; about 15 species of smelt found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, North American Great Lakes, and lakes and seas of the northern part of Europe
(smelt as food)
Smelts are a popular sport and food fish; their oily flesh is famous for the distinctly peculiar flavour and taste!
This fish can be caught by using nets. In some northern states of the USA this sport of catching smelt with nets, called ‘smelt dipping’ is very popular fishing activity!
Like the salmon fish, the smelt fish also travel back to the fresh water bodies where they were born in order to spawn (lay eggs)!
There are, however, a few exceptions, such as ‘surf smelt’, which spend their entire life, including spawning in the sea.
smelting ore
The word ‘smelt’ as a verb word, (1) – smelt – smelted – smelted – smelting – means ‘to heat and melt, or fuse, the ore (‘ore’ = rock that contains some metals) in order to get the metal out of the ore’ in a kiln called a ‘smelter’; and (2) as the past and past participle forms of the verb word ‘smell’ — smell – smelled/smelt – smelled/smelt – smelling — it means ‘to find out the odour (smell) of something using one’s nose’.
1.
as clean as a smelt
2.
‘Gone westward for smelts.’ [an expression used as an excuse by a country girl to be away from home]
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