cellar
Americannoun
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cellars
plural
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a room, or set of rooms, for the storage of food, fuel, etc., wholly or partly underground and usually beneath a building.
-
an underground room or story.
-
Sports. the lowest position in a group ranked in order of games won.
The team was in the cellar for most of the season.
verb (used with object)
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cellars,
present (3rd person singular)
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cellared,
past participle, past
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cellaring
present participle
noun
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an underground room, rooms, or storey of a building, usually used for storage Compare basement
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a place where wine is stored
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a stock of bottled wines
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cellarsimple
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cellarssimple
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have cellaredperfect
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has cellaredperfect
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am cellaringprogressive
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are cellaringprogressive
-
is cellaringprogressive
-
have been cellaringperfect progressive
-
has been cellaringperfect progressive
Past
-
cellaredsimple
-
had cellaredperfect
-
was cellaringprogressive
-
were cellaringprogressive
-
had been cellaringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cellar
1175–1225; Middle English celer < Anglo-French < Latin cellārium storeroom, equivalent to cell ( a ) cell + -ārium -ary; later respelling to reflect Latin form; see -er 2, -ar 2
Explanation
A cellar is a basic, unfinished basement. In a very old house, the cellar might have stone walls and a rough dirt floor. Your cellar might basically be a basement, a place you keep your tools and do your laundry. Some cellars have specific purposes, including a storm cellar, where you take cover during a tornado or other storm, and a root cellar, where you store potatoes and other root vegetables during the cold months of the year. This kind of cellar comes the closest to the meaning of the Latin root, cellarium: "pantry or storeroom."
Vocabulary lists containing cellar
Salt to the Sea
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"Marionettes, Inc." by Ray Bradbury
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"After Apple-Picking" by Robert Frost
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
There is also a music hall and an expansive wine cellar.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
Elsewhere inside the home is a media room that can double as a game room, as well as a wine cellar.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
It boasts of amenities including a resort-style pool, hot tub, cold plunge, tennis court and 5,000-bottle wine cellar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
The gold was found stashed in a bag under a stone cellar surface while workers were laying sewage pipes for a new homeless shelter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Using maps of underground Berlin, Hitler Youth moved from cellar to cellar under the city.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Wine cellars, cognac rooms and private bars serving cocktails have long been places to gather in luxury homes and buildings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
“I have felt for a long time that there are thousands and thousands of American citizens with cellars full of guns,” Close said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2026
That preference held across a wide range of indoor environments, from science labs to art studios, locker rooms to wine cellars.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 11, 2024
Soon, families began showing up at his workshop with violins that had been stored away in attics and cellars, each with its own haunting story.
From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2024
McShane came over with half a dozen policemen and they began combing the roofs and cellars.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
That said, it could also be cellared for a few years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
“It transforms cellared vegetables and stale bread into something absolutely magical,” she said.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2025
Owen: It’s unclear where the wine comes from, although the label notes it’s cellared and bottled by DC Flynt MW Selections in Modesto, California.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 16, 2021
An adage had it that you drank wine cellared by your parents, and bought wine for your children.
From New York Times ● Feb. 13, 2020
They had many towns—some even of two hundred houses, of which dwellings many were cellared, framed, and glazed.
From The Hidden Children by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
And even though glass will almost certainly remain the packaging of choice, we may see more boxes and cans, especially for wines not intended for cellaring.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 15, 2021
When Dogfish Head released the latest batch of 120 Minute, in mid-August, beer lovers lined up to pay $200 a case, with many telling Calagione they had cellaring plans.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 29, 2015
Stone’s Sysak, who has 2,600 bottles in his personal collection, shares Hancock’s reservations about cellaring IPAs and hoppy ales.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 29, 2015
Those transformations make cellaring fun, though the results can be divisive.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 29, 2015
Yes," declared Raymond, "the extensive cellaring under this place is packed to the ceiling with ammunition ready for the Day of Invasion.
From Spies of the Kaiser Plotting the Downfall of England by William Le Queux
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
