noun
Usage: usually capitalized B
Etymology: after H. Bessemer
1. : a process of making steel from pig iron by burning out carbon and other impurities through the agency of a blast of air that is forced through the molten metal, the blowing usually being continued until nearly all the carbon is removed, the desired proportion being restored together with manganese by adding ferromanganese while the blown metal is being poured into a large ladle from which the ingot molds are filled
2. : a process of refining copper matte by burning out the sulfur in a similar way