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

26 December 2024

CHATTEL

(noun) personal as opposed to real property; any tangible movable property (furniture or domestic animals or a car etc)


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Coffee Trivia

The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.

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