coal mine
26
2.8
- noun
- /koʊl maɪn/
:
mina de carbón
- The coal mine produced thousands of tons of coal every year, fueling the local economy.
- coal mine manager
- work in the coal mine
While we're debating whether it's OK to coat paper straws with plastic, someone's opening new coal mines.
- While we're debating whether it's OK to coat paper straws with plastic, someone's opening new coal mines.
- And so I had this, this buddy whose dad worked in the coal mines in, in Utah and in Price, UT.
- The structure of society was built around coal mines and that tradition continues to today in many countries around the world.
- And so he went to a coal mine in and on the side of a Quonset Hut of the coal mine where they would go in to shower.
Examples
-
This is the living quarters of convicts working in coal mines near Birmingham, AL.
-
Lastly, the central highlands have hundreds of small coal mines, many of them now abandoned.
Academic text (1994) -
Instead, instead, the government is trying to build a new coal mine, which we now learn might not even work for British Steel.
-
I worked in a coal mine to come over here.
-
Worked in the coal mine 'til they shut it down.
Fiction book (1993) -
The structure of society was built around coal mines and that tradition continues to today in many countries around the world.
-
He worked in the coal mine till they closed it down.
-
When I think of you and your world and your wretched coal mine... it makes my heart sick.
-
Speaker, this this Friday suddenly sees the closure of Britain's last deep coal mine, Killingly in my constituency.
-
Located in Boone County, the heart of coal country, townspeople hoped it was a sign that a coal mine was reopening somewhere.
Academic text (2017)
Synonyms
178
5.7
A hole in the ground where people dig for minerals like coal or gold
1
9.9
A coal mine with its buildings and equipment
A place where people dig coal from the ground
A place where people remove minerals from the ground now or in the past
How Big
- Archaic
1
9.9
26
2.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a place underground where coal is extracted' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'coal' (a type of fossil fuel) with 'mine' (a place where minerals or ores are removed). This straightforward noun+noun composition follows common cross-linguistic compounding patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The compound noun coal mine comes from the simple picture of a mine where people dig out black rock called coal deep under the ground, with miners working in dark tunnels to bring the coal up. So it means 'a place underground where coal is taken out'.