Small pieces or particles of material removed during drilling operations; also plural of the action of drilling.
From 'drilling' (the gerund of 'drill') plus plural '-s'. The term became common in industrial and geological contexts to describe drilling waste products.
Metal drillings are recycled and incredibly valuable—scrap metal dealers collect the tiny curls of metal produced by industrial drilling because they can be melted down and used again, making nothing go to waste.
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