silver mine
3
3.4
- noun
:
mina de plata
- The workers extracted valuable ore from the silver mine located deep in the mountains.
- work in a silver mine
- an old silver mine
- gold and silver mines
I own gold mines and silver mines and I don't play with paper.
- I own gold mines and silver mines and I don't play with paper.
- Like in just one place, POTUC, Bolivia, the sites of the greatest silver mine in all the world, was a mountain of silver.
- Yeah, it can melt soft stones around in, in those like copper, gold, silver mines.
- I own gold mines, OK? And I own silver mines, OK. So when the dollar crashes, I get richer, right? And that happens time and time again
- And so I read the silver mine control and then what?
Examples
-
Rafael Hinojosa y Obregon was married into a very old Zacatecas family whose money had originally been amassed in the city's famous silver mines.
Fiction book (2000) -
A silver mine in Nevada and a zinc mine in Arkansas proved disastrous.
Academic text (1998) -
It's supposed to be a real silver mine.
-
But still, the silver mine is no place for a child.
Fiction book (1995) -
Your brother will be sent to the silver mine.
Fiction book (1995) -
On Sundays, the men from the silver mine came to the mission.
Fiction book (1995) -
There were the people in Alamos, for example, who lived next to the great silver mine.
Fiction book (1990) -
"They are taking all of you to the south to work in a silver mine," the Jumano replied.
Fiction book (1995) -
Some of the men helped the friars build more stone rooms onto the mission, or worked in the cornfields, but most of them were sent to the silver mine.
Fiction book (1995) -
My grandfather spent most of his life working in the silver mine that was known for its rich deposits.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'silver mine' is a straightforward noun-noun composition whose meaning (a mine where silver is extracted) follows directly from the literal meanings of 'silver' and 'mine'. This compositional pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Silver mine is a simple name that gives a clear picture: shiny silver under the ground and the place people dig, a mine. Picture miners digging tunnels to bring out the metal, so the phrase means 'a mine where silver ore is taken from the ground'.