exploration

exploration

[‚ek·splə′rā·shən]

(mining engineering)

The search for economic deposits of minerals, ore, gas, oil, or coal by geological surveys, geophysical prospecting, boreholes and trial pits, or surface or underground headings, drifts, or tunnels.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

exploration

The general activity undertaken to identify and classify the elements of which a soil mass is constituted.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Exploration

See also Frontier.

Balboa, Vasco Nuñez de

(1475–1517) discovered the Pacific Ocean. [Sp. Hist.: Benét, 75]

Columbus, Christopher

(1446–1506) expeditions to West Indies, South and Central America; said to have discovered America in 1492. [Ital. Hist.: Jameson, 107–108]

de Soto, Hernando

(c. 1500–1542) discovered the Mississippi River. [Sp. Hist.: Benét, 266]

Enterprise

starship on 5-year mission to explore space. [Am. TV: Star Trek in Terrace]

Gama, Vasco da

(c. 1460–1524) navigator who discovered route around Africa to India. [Port. Hist.: NCE, 1040]

Golden Hind

ship on which Sir Francis Drake (1540–1596) became the first Englishman to sail around the world. [Br. Hist.: EB (1963) VII, 575]

Hudson, Henry

seeking a northwest passage to the Orient, in 1609 he explored the river later named for him. [Am. Hist.: Benét, 482]

Journey to the Center of the Earth

expedition through the core of a volcano to the earth’s center. [Fr. Lit.: Verne A Journey to the Center of the Earth in Benét, 1055]

Lewis and Clark Expedition

proved feasibility of overland route to the Pacific. [Am. Hist.: Benét, 583]

Polo, Marco

(1254–1324) Venetian traveler in China. [Ital. Hist.: NCE, 1695]

Ponce

de Leon, Juan (c. 1460–1521) seeking the “fountain of youth,” he discovered Florida and explored its coast. [Sp. Hist.: Benét, 802]

Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.