miner

/ˈmaɪnər/

/ˈmaɪnə/

Other forms: miners

Picture a hardhat, a headlamp and a pick, and you are on the right track. A miner is a person who makes a living digging coal, salt, gold, minerals, or other natural resources out of the earth.

The root here is the noun mine—not the word that possessive toddlers like to shout, but the one that describes a man-made underground network of tunnels and quarries. Don’t confuse miner with minor (note the “o”). Minor refers to musical intervals, small or trivial things, and people under age 18.

Definitions of miner

1. noun

   laborer who works in a mine
   synonyms: mineworker

   types:

   coal miner, collier, pitman

   someone who works in a coal mine

   gold digger, gold miner, gold panner

   a miner who digs or pans for gold in a gold field

   placer miner

   a miner who extracts minerals from a placer by washing or dredging

   prospector

   someone who explores an area for mineral deposits

   strip miner

   a miner who does strip mining

   forty-niner

   a miner who took part in the California gold rush in 1849

   sourdough

   a settler or prospector (especially in western United States or northwest Canada and Alaska)

   type of:

   jack, laborer, labourer, manual laborer

   someone who works with their hands; someone engaged in manual labor