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kiln

[kil, kiln]
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noun
  1. a furnace or oven for burning, baking, or drying something, especially one for firing pottery, calcining limestone, or baking bricks.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to burn, bake, or treat in a kiln.
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Origin of kiln

before 900; Middle English kiln(e), Old English cylen < Latin culīna kitchen
Related formsun·kilned, adjective
Can be confusedkill kiln
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

stove, furnace, fire, hearth, glaze, oast, bake

Examples from the Web for kiln

Historical Examples

  • But the marble statues they put into a kiln to make lime to plaster their houses.

    Buried Cities, Part 2

    Jennie Hall

  • And the idea of turning his Serapeum into a kiln does not appeal to him.

    The Book of Khalid

    Ameen Rihani

  • Kiln marks are formed on some of the brick due to the weight of the brick above in the kiln.

  • When the kiln is full the wicket is bricked up and daubed over with road-mud.

  • And you say these things must stay in the kiln about three days?

    The Story of Glass

    Sara Ware Bassett

British Dictionary definitions for kiln

kiln

noun
  1. a large oven for burning, drying, or processing something, such as porcelain or bricks
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verb
  1. (tr) to fire or process in a kiln
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Word Origin

Old English cylen, from Late Latin culīna kitchen, from Latin coquere to cook
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

Word Origin and History for kiln

n.

Old English cyln, cylen "kiln, oven," from Latin culina "kitchen, cooking stove," unexplained variant of coquere "to cook" (see cook (n.)). Old Norse kylna, Welsh cilin probably are from English.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper