blast furnace

noun

1. a large vertical furnace for smelting iron from ore, using coke as fuel: designed so as to direct a continuous blast of air through the fuel in order to obtain a high rate of combustion.

blast furnace

noun

1. a vertical cylindrical furnace for smelting iron, copper, lead, and tin ores. The ore, scrap, solid fuel, and slag-forming materials are fed through the top and a blast of preheated air is forced through the charge from the bottom. Metal and slag are run off from the base

Word History and Origins

Origin of blast furnace¹

First recorded in 1700–10

Example Sentences

One hundred and twenty-five ton blast furnace, at Covington, Va.

From Project Gutenberg

The blast furnace arose in the eighteenth century, and developed with the use of coke.

From Project Gutenberg

How came this living form, clad in gleaming silver, out there in that blast-furnace heat?

From Project Gutenberg

Its industrial establishments comprise rolling-mill, blast-furnace, foundries, and machine-works.

From Project Gutenberg

With red-rimmed eyes, cracked, parched lips and swollen tongues, they looked as if they had been dragged through a blast furnace.

From Project Gutenberg