pig bed
- noun
- Specialized
:
cama de arena
- Traditional foundries often use a pig bed to shape and collect newly formed pig iron.
Examples
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The workers prepared the pig bed for casting.
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The shape of the pig bed channels the molten metal into manageable ingots.
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After the blast furnace run, the molten iron was poured into the pig bed to cool and solidify.
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A pig bed is essential for making pig iron.
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After the blast furnace run, the molten iron was poured into the pig bed to cool and solidify.
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Traditional foundries often use a pig bed to shape and collect newly formed pig iron.
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The shape of the pig bed channels the molten metal into manageable ingots.
Synonyms
22
9.7
A large piece of metal made by pouring melted metal into a mold
Surface Forms
Morphology
Given that 'pig' is specified here as a cast-metal ingot and 'bed' as a base or layer, the compound denotes the bed used for casting pig iron; the meaning follows directly from combining the constituent senses. It is domain-specific terminology but compositionally predictable for a learner who knows the two word meanings.
Etymology
Pig bed may come from old ironworks. When hot iron was poured, the flow used a main channel like a mother and small side channels like piglets, and the small bars were called pigs, while the sandy bed where they cooled was the pig bed. That's why pig bed means 'a bed of sand used as a mold in which pig iron is cast'.