FURNACES

Noun

furnaces

plural of furnace

Source: Wiktionary


FURNACE

Fur"nace, n. Etym: [OE. fornais, forneis, OF. fornaise, F. fournaise, from L. fornax; akin to furnus oven, and prob. to E. forceps.]

1. An inclosed place in which heat is produced by the combustion of fuel, as for reducing ores or melting metals, for warming a house, for baking pottery, etc.; as, an iron furnace; a hot-air furnace; a glass furnace; a boiler furnace, etc.

Note: Furnaces are classified as wind or air. furnaces when the fire is urged only by the natural draught; as blast furnaces, when the fire is urged by the injection artificially of a forcible current of air; and as reverberatory furnaces, when the flame, in passing to the chimney, is thrown down by a low arched roof upon the materials operated upon.

2. A place or time of punishment, affiction, or great trial; severe experience or discipline. Deut. iv. 20. Bustamente furnace, a shaft furnace for roasting quicksilver ores.

– Furnace bridge, Same as Bridge wall. See Bridge, n., 5.

– Furnace cadmiam or cadmia, the oxide of zinc which accumulates in the chimneys of furnaces smelting zinciferous ores. Raymond.

– Furnace hoist (Iron Manuf.), a lift for raising ore, coal, etc., to the mouth of a blast furnace.

Fur"nace, n.

1. To throw out, or exhale, as from a furnace; also, to put into a furnace. [Obs. or R.] He furnaces The thick sighe from him. Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

2 April 2025

COVERT

(adjective) secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; “covert actions by the CIA”; “covert funding for the rebels”


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Coffee Trivia

Coffee dates back to the 9th century. Goat herders in Ethiopia noticed their goats seem to be “dancing” after eating berries from a particular shrub. They reported it to the local monastery, and a monk made a drink out of it. The monk found out he felt energized and kept him awake at night. That’s how the first coffee drink was born.

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