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Ore

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ore¹

  • /oɹ/ US
  • /ɔː/ UK
  • /o(ː)ɹ/
  • /oə/

Sounds like oar, o'er, or (horse–hoarse merger), aw, awe (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From Middle English or, oor, blend of Old English ōra (“ore, unwrought metal”), of uncertain origin, and ār (“brass, copper, bronze”), from Proto-West Germanic *aiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *aiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éyos.

Compare Old Norse eir (“brass, copper”), German ehern (“of metal, of iron”), Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌶 (aiz, “ore”); also Dutch oer (“ferrous hardpan; bog iron ore”). Compare Latin aes (“bronze, copper”), Avestan 𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬀𐬵 (aiiah), Sanskrit अयस् (áyas, “copper, iron”).

noun ores

  1. countable, uncountable Rock or other material that contains valuable or utilitarian materials; primarily a rock containing metals or gems for which it is typically mined and processed. They general­ly occur in the earth in what are called veins, and are seldom found in the pure metallic state, but generally in combination with some other substance, in which state they are call­ed ores.

ore²

  • /oɹ/ US
  • /ɔː/ UK
  • /o(ː)ɹ/
  • /oə/

Sounds like oar, o'er, or (horse–hoarse merger), aw, awe (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Latin ora.

noun ores

  1. A unit of currency used in England around the 10th to 12th centuries. In the time of Æthelred the Unready when the pound contained 240 pence, the ore was reckoned at 16 pence, but in earlier times there was probably much variation.

ore³

  • /oɹ/ US
  • /ɔː/ UK
  • /o(ː)ɹ/
  • /oə/

Sounds like oar, o'er, or (horse–hoarse merger), aw, awe (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)

Where it comes from

A southern variant of ware (“seaweed”).

noun woar

  1. archaic, dialectal, uncountable Seaweed, especially that which is washed up ashore.

ore⁴

  • /oɹ/ US
  • /ɔː/ UK
  • /o(ː)ɹ/
  • /oə/

Sounds like oar, o'er, or (horse–hoarse merger), aw, awe (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)

Where it comes from

Possibly originating as a figurative use of Etymology 1, with Leominster's "ore" representing the wealth of the town.

noun

  1. historical, uncountable A type of fine wool, especially of the type historically produced in the market town of Leominster, Herefordshire. But then the ore of Lempſter / By Got is never a Sempſter; / That when he is ſpun, ore did, / Yet match him with hir thrid

ore⁵

  • /oɹ/ US
  • /ɔː/ UK
  • /o(ː)ɹ/
  • /oə/

Sounds like oar, o'er, or (horse–hoarse merger), aw, awe (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)

preposition

  1. obsolete Obsolete form of over.over When I behold the violet paſt prime, / And ſable curls or ſiluer'd ore with white: […]

ore⁶

  • /oɹ/ US
  • /ɔː/ UK
  • /o(ː)ɹ/
  • /oə/

Sounds like oar, o'er, or (horse–hoarse merger), aw, awe (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)

noun ore

  1. alternative Alternative form of öre.öre

Ore⁷

Where it comes from

* From Old English ora (“edge, stream bank, brink”)

* For the river, a back-formation from Orford, Suffolk.

proper noun

  1. A suburban area, formerly a village, in Hastings borough, East Sussex, England (OS grid ref TQ8311).
  2. A river in Suffolk, England, in two sections; a non-tidal section that joins the River Alde, and a tidal section, a renaming of the Alde parallel to the coast south of Aldeburgh, passing Orford before entering the North Sea.
  3. A tributary of the River Leven, Fife council area, Scotland.

ORE⁸

proper noun

  1. abbreviation Abbreviation of Oregon.Oregon

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