cellar

cellar
cellarless, adj.
/sel"euhr/, n.
1. a room, or set of rooms, for the storage of food, fuel, etc., wholly or partly underground and usually beneath a building.
2. an underground room or story.
3. See wine cellar.
4. Sports. the lowest position in a group ranked in order of games won: The team was in the cellar for most of the season.
v.t.
5. to place or store in a cellar.
[1175-1225; ME celer < AF < L cellarium storeroom, equiv. to cell(a) CELL1 + -arium -ARY; later resp. to reflect L form; see -ER2, -AR2]

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Portion of a building beneath ground level, used for utilitarian and storage purposes.

It is often called a basement, especially when constructed as part of a foundation. A cellar used for food storage (e.g., a root cellar) may be beneath a house or located outdoors, partly underground, with the upper part mounded over with earth to maintain fairly constant temperature and humidity; the entire enclosure may be concrete, or the floor may be of dirt and the ceiling of timber.

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      room beneath ground level, especially one for storing fruits and vegetables, both raw and canned, on a farm. A typical cellar may be beneath the house or located outdoors, partly underground, with the upper part mounded over with earth to protect from freezing and to maintain fairly constant temperature and humidity. Such a structure is sometimes called a root cellar. The entire enclosure may be concrete, or the floor may be of dirt and the ceiling of logs or timbers treated with preservative. Equipped with a tile drain and air vent, such cellars often double as storm shelters.

      Unheated basements of heated and insulated ground-level buildings are sometimes used to store fruits and vegetables for short periods. Outdoor pits or mounds covered with straw, stalks, building paper, and earth are also used, with storage time of several weeks or a few months feasible.

      In northern climates cellars have been prevalent in single-family houses and were necessary when gravity heating was used. With forced air heat there is decreasing reason for building such basements, and the storage space can often be better placed above ground.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • cellar — [sel′ər] n. [ME celler < OFr celier < L cellarium, pantry, storeroom < cella: see CELL] 1. a room or group of rooms below the ground level and usually under a building, often used for storing fuel, provisions, or wines 2. a stock of… …   English World dictionary

  • cellar — cellar. (De cello). □ V. hierro cellar …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • cellar — early 13c., from Anglo Fr. celer, from O.Fr. celier cellar, underground passage (12c., Mod.Fr. cellier), from L. cellarium pantry, storeroom, lit. group of cells; from cella (see CELL (Cf. cell)), or from noun use of neut. of adj. cellarius… …   Etymology dictionary

  • cellar — (De cello). ☛ V. hierro cellar …   Diccionario de la lengua española

  • Cellar — Cel lar, n. [OE. celer, OF. celier, F. celier, fr. L. cellarium a receptacle for food, pantry, fr. cella storeroom. See {Cell}.] A room or rooms under a building, and usually below the surface of the ground, where provisions and other stores are… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cellar — [n] underground story of building apartment, basement, subbasement, subterrane, underground room, vault; concepts 440,448 Ant. attic …   New thesaurus

  • cellar — ► NOUN 1) a storage space or room below ground level in a house. 2) a stock of wine. ORIGIN Latin cellarium storehouse , from cella storeroom or chamber …   English terms dictionary

  • cellar — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ damp, dark ▪ old ▪ deep, underground ▪ vaulted ▪ coal …   Collocations dictionary

  • cellar — Synonyms and related words: archives, armory, arsenal, attic, bank, basement, bay, bin, bonded warehouse, bookcase, box, bunker, buttery, cargo dock, cellarage, chest, closet, coal bin, conservatory, crate, crib, cupboard, cyclone cellar,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • cellar — [[t]se̱lə(r)[/t]] cellars 1) N COUNT A cellar is a room underneath a building, which is often used for storing things in. The box of papers had been stored in a cellar at the family home. 2) N COUNT: usu sing A person s or restaurant s cellar is… …   English dictionary

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