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deadwork

American

[ded-wurk] / ˈdɛdˌwɜrk /

noun

Mining.

work necessary to expose an orebody, as the removal of overburden.

Etymology

Origin of deadwork

First recorded in 1645–55; dead + work

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.