cradle
8
8.8
A box that rocks to separate gold from dirt
- noun
- /ˈkreɪdəl/
- Archaic
:
batea
- The old cradle was essential for efficiently washing the gravel during the gold mining process.
Examples
-
I didn't go straight from the cradle to a gold camp.
-
You're going to look for gold in a river without a shovel, a pail, a cradle?
-
Below him on his left, two mining drones hung in their cradles like enormous crabs waiting to scuttle over the mine bed.
Fiction book (1994) -
The miners used a cradle to separate gold from the earth and gravel in the river.
-
To find gold, the prospectors carefully rocked the cradle in the water.
Synonyms
1
9.6
A wooden trough rocked in water to separate gold from dirt
is a box shaped trough that can be rocked without special supports
9.9
A shallow wide pan for washing gravel to find gold
is a box shaped trough that is rocked to separate gold in water
Idioms
Compounds
How Effective
ore processing
3
4.4
- Specialized
3
4.4
stamp mill
- Archaic
cradle
8
8.8
- Archaic
8
8.8
to pan
3
7.7
- Specialized
3
7.7
Surface Forms
Etymology
Cradle was also used for a miner's rocking box because miners rocked the box like a baby's bed to wash out gold. A mining cradle is therefore a box that moves back and forth to separate gold from dirt.