furnace
furnace Lexical Profile
furnace Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American A large appliance, typically installed in a basement or utility room, that heats air or water to be circulated throughout a building.
"When the winter storm hit, our basement furnace struggled to keep the house warm."
An enclosed structure in which material can be heated to very high temperatures, typically used for smelting metals, firing ceramics, or burning refuse.
"The steelworkers carefully monitored the temperature inside the blast furnace."
A place or environment characterized by extreme or oppressive heat.
"By midday, the small, unventilated attic had become a furnace."
• Rhymes for furnace
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English furneys, borrowed from Old French fornais, which derived from Latin fornax (oven, furnace), from the base fornus (oven).
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.