释义 |
fur·nace I. \ˈfərnə̇s, ˈfə̄n-, ˈfəin-\ noun (-s) Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English furneis, furnas, from Old French fornaise, fournaise, from Latin fornac-, fornax; akin to Latin formus warm — more at warm 1. : an apparatus for the production or application of heat: as a. : an enclosed structure for reducing ore or melting or heat-treating metal by the application of intense heat produced typically by full combustion — compare hearth b. : an oven for firing pottery : kiln c. : an apparatus usually consisting of a firepot and a system of pipes to carry heat to all parts of a building d. : an atomic reactor 2. archaic : a boiler or crucible 3. : something that resembles or has the effect of a furnace < the immense furnaces of the stars — J.A.Thomson & Patrick Geddes > < as gold is refined in the crucible so do the great Christian virtues … flow in all their purity from the furnace of man's affliction — W.F.Hambly > II. transitive verb (-ed/-ing/-s) 1. obsolete : to give forth like a furnace < he furnaces the thick sighs from him — Shakespeare > 2. a. : to subject to heat < a mixture of extremely fine silica and … lead oxide is furnaced for two hours at 625° C — E.R.Riegel > b. : to appear to heat : make glow < the Indian House stood furnaced in melancholy red by a September sunset — William Sansom > |