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boiler room

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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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Related formsboil·er-room, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for boiler room

Historical Examples

  • Neville had heard Larry's cry and rushed to the boiler-room.

    The Best Short Stories of 1917

    Various

  • In the boiler-room our exciting time was after the worst was over on shore.

  • Socker, the janitor, met them at the door of the boiler-room.

  • Meanwhile, the smoke was pouring from the boiler-room, and the flames were brighter.

  • In a year little Andy had graduated to the boiler-room at two dollars a week.

British Dictionary definitions for boiler room

boiler room

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
    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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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012