1. The science that deals with procedures used in extracting metals from their ores, purifying and alloying metals, and creating useful objects from metals.
2. The study of metals and their properties in bulk and at the atomic level.

[New Latin metallūrgia, from Greek metallourgos, miner, worker in metals : metallon, a mine, metal + -ourgos, -worker (from ergon, work).]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.