Category: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. Deuteronomy 4:20. 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.

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.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Furnace - (1.) Chald. attun, a large furnace with a wide open mouth, at the top of which materials were cast in (Daniel 3:22, Daniel 3:23; compare Jeremiah 29:22). This furnace would be in constant requisition, for the Babylonians disposed of their dead by cremation, as did also the Accadians who invaded Mesopotamia. (2.) Heb. kibshan, a smelting furnace (Genesis 19:28), also a lime-kiln (Isaiah 33:12; Amos 2:1). (3.) Heb. kur, a refining furnace (Proverbs 17:3; Proverbs 27:21; Ezekiel 22:18). (4.) Heb. alil, a crucible; only used in Psalms 12:6. (5.) Heb. tannur, oven for baking bread (Genesis 15:17; Isaiah 31:9; Nehemiah 3:11). It was a large pot, narrowing towards the top. When it was heated by a fire made within, the dough was spread over the heated surface, and thus was baked. "A smoking furnace and a burning lamp" (Genesis 15:17), the symbol of the presence of the Almighty, passed between the divided pieces of Abraham's sacrifice in ratification of the covenant God made with him. (See Oven.) (6.) Gr. kamnos, a furnace, kiln, or oven (Matthew 13:42, Matthew 13:50; Revelation 1:15; Revelation 9:2).