furnace meaning

• Noun: furnace  furnis
  1. An enclosed chamber in which heat is produced to heat buildings, destroy refuse, smelt or refine ores, etc.

  Derived forms: furnaces

  Type of: chamber

  Encyclopedia: Furnace, Carmarthenshire Furnace, Argyll and Bute Furnace Furnace, Scotland Furnace, Llanelli Furnace, Indiana

• 
  [Architecture]
  1.

  That part of a boiler or warm-air heating plant in which combustion takes place.

  2.

  A complete heating unit for transferring heat from fuel being burned to the air supplied to a heating system.

• 
  [Engineering]
  An apparatus in which heat is liberated and transferred directly or indirectly to a solid or fluid mass for the purpose of effecting a physical or chemical change.

• annealing furnace:    [Engineering]A fur ...
• arc furnace:    [Electronics]A hig ...
• ash furnace:    [Engineering]A fur ...

Examples

1. the blast furnace is not in commercial use.
2. all trim scrap is conveyed back to the furnace.
3. all trim scrap is conveyed back to the furnace.
4. the air is evacuated from the furnace.
5. the fire in the furnace warms this cold air.