blue leadn.1
/ˌbluː ˈlɛd/, U.S. /ˈˌblu ˈlɛd/ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > metal ore > lead ore
plumbago1617
potter's ore1647
bouse1653
lead-ore1653
plumbary1657
potter's lead1670
galena1671
blue lead1728
alquifou1756
lead glance1811
galenite1868
1728 J. Woodward Catal. Addit. Eng. Native Fossils 28 The common blue Lead-Ore of Mendip, lies in Veins or perpendicular Fissures of the Stone.
1796 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) II. 220 Blue Lead ore.
1821 J. Mawe Familiar Lessons Mineral. & Geol. (ed. 3) iii. 48 So little were the Ores of Lead known (except common blue lead ore) in our time, that both white and green ores of that substance have been for years lying neglected.
1875 R. Hunt & F. W. Rudler Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) I. 407 Blue Lead, a name used sometimes by the miners to distinguish galena from the carbonate, or white lead.
2. Metallic lead. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > base metal > [noun] > lead
leadc900
black leada1398
blue pigeon1735
blue lead1790
1790 J. Clarke To Trustees Linen Manuf. Rep. 10 This is white Lead and Ashes obtained from blue Lead, a Practice which cannot be sufficiently reprobated.
1852 Industry of Nations Great Exhib. (Soc. Promoting Christian Knowl.) 350 After a lapse of six or eight weeks the metallic, or blue-lead, as it is called, is converted into porcelain-like masses of white-lead.
1895 G. H. Duckworth in C. Booth Life & Labour London V. iii. iv. 378 Lead-pipe, sheet-lead, lead-capsules, shot and bullets are the principal forms into which blue-lead is manufactured in London.
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 99/1 Blue lead, name used in the industry for metallic lead.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2013; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
blue leadn.2
/ˌbluː ˈliːd/, U.S. /ˌblu ˈlid/ U.S. Mining. Now historical.
A gold-bearing stratum of bluish gravelly clay. Chiefly as the name (more fully Great Blue Lead) of a particular lode in California.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > minerals > mineral sources > [noun] > strata containing minerals
fuller's eartha1350
fulling eartha1399
fulling clay1647
second bottom1787
iron pan1811
ledge1847
blue lead1854
oil shale1866
oil sand1875
Cambridge coprolite1881
Cambridge greensand1882
gem-bed1886
1854 Mining Mag. 2 655 The shaft of the United States Company.., having been sunk to a depth of 196 feet, in search of the Blue lead, at an expense of over $7,000, is completed.
1872 Anglo-Amer. Times 13 Apr. 12/2 The lower strata, or Blue Lead, is by far the richest, generally returning from five to ten-fold the amount of gold obtained from the upper strata.
1908 W. R. Crane Gold & Silver iii. 306 The blue lead varies in thickness from a few inches to 100 feet, and is generally considered to be not only the richest but the most important and reliable gold-bearing gravel deposit in the state.
1931 Calif. Hist. Soc. Q. 10 394 Alleghany..developed after the great ‘Blue Lead’ had been discovered on the other side of the Oregon Creek divide from Forest City.
1999 M. Hill Gold viii. 133 Early miners weren't hoping to find the ‘Mother Lode’—that term didn't come into vogue until the 1860s. They were looking for the ‘Great Blue Lead’.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2013; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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