ORE, in natural history, the compound mineral glebe, earth, stone, or other substance, which is sufficiently rich in metallic particles to be worth the while of purification, and by this means of separating the metal from it, whether gold, silver, copper, &c. See METALLURGY, Part i. sect. 2. p. 437, &c.; and sect. 4. p. 431, &c.; and Part ii. sect. 1. &c. p. 432, &c. See also MINERALOGY, Part i. sect. 2. p. 61, &c.