furnace


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Related to furnace: electric furnace, Muffle furnace

fur·nace

 (fûr′nĭs)
n.
1. An enclosure in which energy in a nonthermal form is converted to heat, especially such an enclosure in which heat is generated by the combustion of a suitable fuel.
2. An intensely hot place: the furnace of the sun; an attic room that is a furnace in the summer.
3. A severe test or trial: endured the furnace of his friends' blame after the accident.

[Middle English fourneyse, from Old French fornaise, variant of earlier fornais, from Latin fornāx, fornāc-, oven; see gwher- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

furnace

(ˈfɜːnɪs)
n
1. (Mechanical Engineering) an enclosed chamber in which heat is produced to generate steam, destroy refuse, smelt or refine ores, etc
2. a very hot or stifling place
[C13: from Old French fornais, from Latin fornax oven, furnace; related to Latin formus warm]
ˈfurnace-ˌlike adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fur•nace

(ˈfɜr nɪs)

n.
1. a structure or apparatus in which heat may be generated, as for heating houses, smelting ores, or producing steam.
2. a place characterized by intense heat.
[1175–1225; Middle English furneis, furnais < Old French fornais, fournais < Latin fornācem, kiln, oven]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.furnace - an enclosed chamber in which heat is produced to heat buildings, destroy refuse, smelt or refine ores, etc.furnace - an enclosed chamber in which heat is produced to heat buildings, destroy refuse, smelt or refine ores, etc.
athanor - a furnace that feeds itself so as to maintain a uniform temperature; used by alchemists
blast furnace - a furnace for smelting of iron from iron oxide ores; combustion is intensified by a blast of air
chamber - a natural or artificial enclosed space
cremation chamber, crematorium, crematory - a furnace where a corpse can be burned and reduced to ashes
cupola - a vertical cylindrical furnace for melting iron for casting
electric furnace - any furnace in which the heat is provided by an electric current
firebox - a furnace (as on a steam locomotive) in which fuel is burned
forge - furnace consisting of a special hearth where metal is heated before shaping
gas furnace - a furnace that burns gas
grate, grating - a frame of iron bars to hold a fire
incinerator - a furnace for incinerating (especially to dispose of refuse)
kiln - a furnace for firing or burning or drying such things as porcelain or bricks
oil burner, oil furnace - a furnace that burns oil
open-hearth furnace - a furnace for making steel in which the steel is placed on a shallow hearth and flames of burning gas and hot air play over it
register - a regulator (as a sliding plate) for regulating the flow of air into a furnace or other heating device
reverberatory furnace - a furnace in which the material that is being treated is heated indirectly by flames that are directed at the roof and walls of the furnace
tank furnace - furnace into one end of which a batch of measured raw materials is shoveled and from the other end molten glass is obtained
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
فُرْن، أتون
pec
ovnsmelteovn
ahjosulatusuuniuuni
kemence
bræîsluofn
kurtuve
kotelpeč

furnace

[ˈfɜːnɪs] Nhorno m
the room was like a furnacela habitación era un horno
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

furnace

[ˈfɜːrnɪs] nfourneau m
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

furnace

nHochofen m; (Metal) → Schmelzofen m; this room is like a furnacedieses Zimmer ist ja das reinste Treibhaus
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

furnace

[ˈfɜːnɪs] nfornace f
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

furnace

(ˈfəːnis) noun
a very hot oven or closed-in fireplace for melting iron ore, making steam for heating etc.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
The previous evening each furnace had been charged with 114,000 pounds weight of metal in bars disposed cross-ways to each other, so as to allow the hot air to circulate freely between them.
Finally I won, and was permitted to go to the school in the day for a few months, with the understanding that I was to rise early in the morning and work in the furnace till nine o'clock, and return immediately after school closed in the afternoon for at least two more hours of work.
Through these bewildering sights and deafening sounds, their conductor led them to where, in a dark portion of the building, one furnace burnt by night and day--so, at least, they gathered from the motion of his lips, for as yet they could only see him speak: not hear him.
Across the desolate plain, stripped bare of all vegetation, and made hideous forever by the growth of a mighty industry, where the furnace fires reddened the sky, and only the unbroken line of ceaseless lights showed where town dwindled into village and suburbs led back again into town.
He was taken to the Bessemer furnace, where they made billets of steel--a domelike building, the size of a big theater.
Grandfather loved a wood-fire far better than a grate of glowing anthracite, or than the dull heat of an invisible furnace, which seems to think that it has done its duty in merely warming the house.
He had left his laboratory to the care of an assistant, cleared his fine countenance from the furnace smoke, washed the stain of acids from his fingers, and persuaded a beautiful woman to become his wife.
The field echoes from wing to wing, as a hundred hammers that rise by turn, on the red son of the furnace."
See to the skin tint: it is not to be replaced, for paint as you will, it is not once in a hundred times that it is not either burned too brown in the furnace or else the color will not hold, and you get but a sickly white.
At Sauce we found a very civil old gentleman, superintendent of a copper-smelting furnace. As an especial favour, he allowed me to purchase at a high price an armful of dirty straw, which was all the poor horses had for supper after their long day's journey.
Voluptuousness: to the rabble, the slow fire at which it is burnt; to all wormy wood, to all stinking rags, the prepared heat and stew furnace.
This cave was made with a clothes horse for a roof, bureaus for walls, and in it was a small furnace in full blast, with a black pot on it and an old witch bending over it.