blast furnace

American  

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 British  

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

---

Etymology

Origin of blast furnace

First recorded in 1700–10

Example Sentences

The company said in December that it would eliminate a third of its workforce, or about 1,000 jobs, as it shuttered production from its blast furnace and coke ovens and transitioned to electric-arc steelmaking.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026

The veteran Democratic campaign strategist, who has been described as possessing “a pile-driving personality and blast furnace of a mouth” — by me, actually — has never lacked for strong and colorful opinions.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 14, 2025

The company expects to add about 400 employees at Granite City to operate the blast furnace, raising the plant’s workforce to about 1,200, a person familiar with the matter said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025

A year after working his final shift on the blast furnace, ex-steelworker Levi Roberts is operating two smaller ovens - baking pizzas - in a converted horse-box in Port Talbot.

From BBC • Oct. 4, 2025

Mecca is surrounded by the crudest-looking mountains I have ever seen; they seem to be made of the slag from a blast furnace.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey