stove

¹ American  

[stohv] / stoʊv /

noun

1. a portable or fixed apparatus that furnishes heat for warmth, cooking, etc., commonly using coal, oil, gas, wood, or electricity as a source of power.

2. a heated chamber or box for some special purpose, as a drying room or a kiln for firing pottery.

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verb (used with object)

stoved, stoving

1. to treat with or subject to heat, as in a stove.

stove ² American  

[stohv] / stoʊv /

verb

1. a simple past tense and past participle of stave.

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stove ¹ British  

/ stəʊv /

noun

1. another word for cooker

2. any heating apparatus, such as a kiln

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verb

1. to process (ceramics, metalwork, etc) by heating in a stove

2. to stew (meat, vegetables, etc)

stove ² British  

/ stəʊv /

verb

1. a past tense and past participle of stave

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Etymology

Origin of stove

1425–75; (noun) late Middle English: sweat bath, heated room, probably < Middle Dutch, Middle Low German, cognate with Old English stofa, stofu heated room for bathing, Old High German stuba ( German Stube room; cf. bierstube), Old Norse stofa; early Germanic borrowing < Vulgar Latin *extupa, *extūpa (> French étuve sweat room of a bath; cf. stew ¹), noun derivative of *extūpāre, *extūfāre to fill with vapor, equivalent to Latin ex- ex- ¹ + Vulgar Latin *-tūfāre < Greek tȳ́phein to raise smoke, smoke, akin to tŷphos fever ( see typhus); alternatively explained as a native Germanic base, borrowed into Romance ( cf. izba); (v.) late Middle English stoven to subject to hot-air bath, derivative of the noun

Explanation

A stove is a machine that heats or cooks. If you want really delicious popcorn, don't use the microwave — cook it the old-fashioned way, in a pot of hot oil on the stove. Stoves typically use gas or electricity. If you have a wood-burning stove in your house, you know it's an apparatus that burns split logs to create enough heat to warm up a room — or several rooms. In the 15th century, stove meant either "heated room" or "bathroom." Experts aren't sure about the word's origin, although some guess a connection to Vulgar Latin's extufare, "take a steam bath."

Example Sentences

Plus we all saw you dip a cupcake into a bag of Stove Top.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 26, 2025

The Scottish Stove Centre in the village was also without power, but doing good business.

From BBC • Oct. 4, 2025

If you had “fans pleading for Major League Baseball intervention” on your Hot Stove bingo card in the wake of the Dodgers’ billion-dollar winter of Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernández, you win.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2024

Adames was among a half-dozen Milwaukee players to join manager Craig Counsell and president of baseball operations Matt Arnold at the Brewers’ “Hot Stove & Cold Brews” gathering Wednesday night.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 18, 2023

But inside, I secretly thanked the Stove King perched above our stove.

From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep

Related Words

• boiler
• cooker
• heater
• kiln
• microwave
• oven