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Definition of "colliery" [col•lier•y]

  • A coal mine together with its physical plant and outbuildings. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "colliery" in a sentence
  • "Clive Brill, the director, has had a good idea for the soundscape which doesn't quite work: the Volsci are Yorkshiremen, and the incidental music is therefore all in colliery brass band style."
  • "Brass bands known as colliery bands were the local entertainment for the coal miners of Durham in Northern England, where the collieries mining operations are now defunct."
  • "Eventually the officers of the colliery, which is owned by the AngloAmerican Corp. of South Africa, decided to clear the shaft by pumping air in to push the fumes deeper into the mine; the decision permitted the rescue effort to begin but inevitably reduced the chance of finding anyone alive."