what does it mean to dredge up something

The use of the gold dredge has improved the efficiency of gold mining, and led to the establishment of large corporations using gold mining equipment to prospect.

Any size of the precious metal may be caught in this manner, from a gold nugget to gold dust. This material is then dumped into a vibrating or rotating trommel, where the gold is separated from the surrounding rocks and dirt, falling into the sluice box. Gold prospectors often use this method of gold recovery, digging or using a suction dredge in silt or old tailings. Dredging may be used for a variety of situations, such as keeping navigable waterways clear, fishing for certain mollusks or crustaceans, or mining. Dredge is used as a noun to mean the machinery used to scoop trash, mud and vegetation out of the bed of a body of water. Related words are dredges, dredged, dredging, dredger. The word dregs is derived from the Old Norse word dregg, which means sediment.ĭredge may be used as a verb to mean to clear a channel or the bed of a body of water by scooping out trash, mud and vegetation with machinery.

The singular form, dreg, is listed as acceptable by many dictionaries, but the Oxford English Dictionary only lists the plural form, dregs. Dregs is also used figuratively to mean the lowest, least esteemed part of something, or the leftovers. Dregs are the liquid and sediment left in a receptacle after it has been consumed.

What does it mean to dredge up something