boiler room

American  

noun

1. a room in a building, ship, etc., that houses one or more steam boilers.

2. Slang.

   1. a place where illicit brokers engage in high-pressure selling, over the telephone, of securities of a highly speculative nature or of dubious value.

   2. any room or business where salespeople, bill collectors, solicitors for charitable donations, etc., conduct an intensive telephone campaign, especially in a fast-talking or intimidating manner.

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boiler room British  

noun

1. any room in a building (often in the basement) that contains a boiler for central heating, etc

2. the part of a steam ship that houses the boilers and furnaces

3. the room or department in which the real work of an organization goes on unseen

4. ( chiefly US ) an office used by a team of telephone salespeople, esp of stocks and shares, operating under high pressure

5. 1. a fraudulent scheme in which investors are encouraged to buy non-existent, worthless, or over-priced shares

   2. ( as modifier )

      a boiler-room scam

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Other Word Forms

• boiler-room
  adjective

Example Sentences

Krauze joined what was then called the Vladimir Lenin shipyard in 1983, first in a coal-fired boiler room and later operating a crane.

From Barron's • Mar. 7, 2026

The team inside the boiler room includes local workers and Naomi Pearmine, a Marine Engineer.

From BBC • Nov. 7, 2025

The pool’s mechanical room looks like the boiler room of an ocean liner — with giant tanks that purify pool water and another system that stabilizes the temperature.

From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2025

Mick worked in a factory boiler room in the 1970s, where he was exposed to asbestos.

From Science Daily • Feb. 15, 2024

I thought about what I’d overheard in the boiler room of the CSS Birmingham—Ares yelling at Clarisse, warning her that she’d better not fail.

From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan