a phrase that has been used to describe the US, because it is a country in which people from many different races and cultures are ‘melted’ together, i.e. mixed, to form the US people. The British writer Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) wrote a play called The Melting Pot (1903) about Jewish immigrants in America.
MELTING POT
Meaning of MELTING POT in English
Oxford guide to British and American culture English vocabulary. Руководство по британской и американской культуре, Оксфордский английский словарь. 2005