cellar

[ sel-er ]

noun

1. a room, or set of rooms, for the storage of food, fuel, etc., wholly or partly underground and usually beneath a building.
2. an underground room or story.
3. wine cellar.
4. 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)

1. to place or store in a cellar.

cellar

/ ˈsɛlə /

noun

1. an underground room, rooms, or storey of a building, usually used for storage Compare basement
2. a place where wine is stored
3. a stock of bottled wines

verb

1. tr to store in a cellar

Other Words From

• cellar·less adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cellar¹

1175–1225; Middle English celer < Anglo-French < Latin cellārium storeroom, equivalent to cell ( a ) cell + -ārium -ary; later respelling to reflect Latin form; -er ², -ar ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of cellar¹

C13: from Anglo-French, from Latin cellārium food store, from cella cella

Example Sentences

Some wondered why were focusing on cocktails and why we have a wine cellar in the restaurant.

From Salon

If the promise of America is a pretty white farmhouse, Hooper’s camera directed viewers to the dry rot in the walls and the bodies in the cellar.

From Slate

Potatoes would arrive in huge wooden crates and have to be lugged up from the cellar.

From BBC

Most often, though, it is like a cold, dank cellar…..

From BBC

Maybe a wine cellar, but that's about it.

From BBC

Related Words

• apartment
• basement
• vault