1. One who mines; a digger for metals, etc.; one engaged in the
business of getting ore, coal, or precious stones, out of the earth;
one who digs military mines; as, armies have sappers and miners.
2. (Zoöl.) (a) Any of numerous insects which, in the larval state,
excavate galleries in the parenchyma of leaves. They are mostly minute
moths and dipterous flies. (b) The chattering, or garrulous, honey
eater of Australia (Myzantha garrula).
Miner's elbow (Med.), a swelling on the black of the elbow due to
inflammation of the bursa over the olecranon; -- so called because of
frequent occurrence in miners. -- Miner's inch, in hydraulic mining,
the amount of water flowing under a given pressure in a given time
through a hole one inch in diameter. It is a unit for measuring the
quantity of water supplied.
Min"er*al (?), n. [F. minéral, LL. minerale, fr. minera mine. See Mine,
v. i.]
1. An inorganic species or substance occurring in nature, having a
definite chemical composition and usually a distinct crystalline form.
Rocks, except certain glassy igneous forms, are either simple minerals
or aggregates of minerals.