| Adit | A nearly horizontal passage from the surface by which a mine is entered and through which water is removed. It has a just sufficient slope to insure drainage. |
| Afterdamp | A gaseous mixture resulting from an explosions |
| Air Crossing | An overcast. A bridge (tunnel) that carries one airway over another into a mine |
| Air-shaft | A door for regulating the air current throughout the workings of the mine. |
| Airway | Any passage through which air is carried in a mine |
| Anemometer | An instrument used for measuring the velocity of ventilation current by means of a revolving vane wheel |
| Anthracite | Hard mineral coal formed of almost pure carbon with a few volatile hydrocarbons. Burns slowly with a little flame. |
| Band | A thin stratum of clay or stone in a seam of coal |
| Barrier Pillar | A solid block of coal left un-worked between two mines as protection against an influx of water. |
| Batten | A piece of board used to in timbering; usually an inch thick and eight to twelve inches wide. |
| Beehive Oven | A circular, arched brick oven in which coke is made without the recovery of any by products |
| Bench | The bottom part of a seam when the holing has been done in the middle. |
| Bit | The cutting tool of a mining machine. |
| Bituminous | A soft mineral coal low in carbon content yielding many volatile hydrocarbons burns with a yellow smoky flame. |
| Black Damp | A mixture of air and carbon dioxide (CO2) or air with an excess content of Nitrogen (N2) |
| Blast | To bring down and shatter coal or rock by explosives |
| Blasting cap | Detonator: a small metal cylinder containing fulminate of mercury set in high explosives to ignite the charge |
| Bloom | The oxidized and decomposed outcrop of a coal seam or indicating traces of a coal bed |
| Blow out | In blasting a charge that blows out the stemming without dislodging any material |
| Blue cap | The blue halo of ignited methane around the flame of a safety lamp |
| Bone | Slaty or carbonaceous shale round in coal seams |
| Bonnet | The metal cover for the gauzes in a safety lamp |
| Booster Fan | A fan used to suck in the intake air on an airway and force it further into the workings |
| Brass | Iron Pyrites in coal (term used in the North of England) |
| Brattice | A canvas cloth used to deflect air currents usually used near the working face and is of a temporary nature |
| Breast Augur | A drilling augur driven forward by a breast plate which rests against the miners body |
| Bait | Lunch carried to the mine (term used in North of England) |
| Briquettes | Fuel made of fine coal pressed into brick form |
| Brown Coal | Lignite a fuel between peat and bituminous coal |
| Bug dust | The fine coal produced by a cutting machine |
| Buggy | A small mine car |
| Buntons | Horizontal timbers in a shaft which carry cage guides also used to support the walls of the shaft |
| Brusher | One who works at blasting and removing the rock of a brushing |
| Brushing | A thickness of stone removed to make sufficient height in a roadway to provide clearance for moving miners mules and machinery |
| Cabin | A small room in a mine for the use of officials |
| Cage | A platform on which men and mine cars are transported in a vertical shaft |
| Cage Guides | Vertical lengths of timber or steel on which the cage runs to prevent it swinging from side to side |
| Cager | The person who puts the cars on the cage at the top or bottom of the shaft |
| Canch | Same as brushing (tern used in North of England) |
| Cap | A short piece of flat wood used in timbering and placed on top of a prop; a cap piece |
| Cap Rock | A layer of carbonaceous rock often found between the coal seam and the true roof of the mine usually varies between to and six inches in thickness |
| Car | A wheeled vehicle used to transport coal from the workings to the surface. |
| Carbide | A compound of carbon and calcium which with the addition of water produces acetylene gas used in miners lamps |
| Carbide Lamp | One which uses carbide and water to produce an acetylene flame for illumination. |
| Cartridge | A waterproof paper cylinder filled with explosive the charge for blasting |
| Cave/Cave In | A collapsing of the roof in a mine |
| Cavils | Lots drawn by the hewers and putters on piecework each quarter year to determine their working place in the mine (term used in the North of England) |
| Charge | Amount of explosive used in a single blast or shot. |
| Charging the Ovens | When the coke ovens are filled with raw coal to produce coke |
| Check | A metal token used to identify each underground worked or a token to recon rd each car loaded by a particular miner |
