blast furnace

blast furnace (plural blast furnaces)

1. (metallurgy) An industrial furnace in which ore is smelted to metal, the process being intensified by a blast of hot air.
   • 2019, Alan Staniforth, Cleveland Way, page 64:

     Just before Bloworth Crossing, you'll walk a short distance along the trackbed of the old mineral railway that connected the old ironstone mines at Rosedale with the blast furnaces of Middlesbrough.

2. (metallurgy) As above, but specifically such a furnace where the fuel and the ore are intermixed, as for example when coke and iron ore are burned together.

• tuyeres

• ironworks, steelworks

• See metallurgical furnace § Smelting furnaces

•   blast furnace on Wikipedia.Wikipedia