quartz crusher

English

Noun

quartz crusher (plural quartz crushers)

1. (now chiefly historical) A machine designed to crush quartz in order to extract gold. [from 19th c.]
   • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber & Faber, published 2003, page 86:

     Mrs Ester did not worry about gold. The quartz crushers were already more important.