cellar Definition
cel·lar (sel′ər)
noun
- a room or group of rooms below the ground level and usually under a building, often used for storing fuel, provisions, or wines
- a stock of wines kept in such a cellar
Etymology: ME celler < OFr celier < L cellarium, pantry, storeroom < cella: see cell
transitive verb
to store in a cellar
cellar Idioms
the cellar
☆Informal the lowest position, as in the relative standing of competing teams
cellar Synonyms
cellar Usage Examples
Converse of subject
complement: The food is complemented by a wine cellar that offers a wide choice of carefully selected bottles at all price levels.
Converse of object
- vault: The remains are now no more than a triangular building platform, with a sand stone arch leading into a vaulted cellar.
- well-stock: You can complement your meal with a selection from our well-stocked cellar or perhaps choose a bottle from our extensive wine list.
- excavate: Rayner and Sewell were a different matter; carefully and methodically, they completely excavated the cellars.
Adjective modifier
- dank: The sinner senses darkness in his soul similar to that of a dark and dank cellar.
- damp: For many decades it rests quietly in the damp cellars below sea level.
- cooperative: Marketing: About one quarter of the region's wine is produced by seven cooperative cellars.
- underground: The interior is quite impressive, with a glass catwalk leading over an underground wine cellar.
- dark: Our society has locked its collective demons away in a dark cellar.
- extensive: The extensive wine cellars offer over 2,500 bins with prices from £ 14 to £ 10,000 for a magnum of 1870 Chateau Lafite.
Modifies a noun
- stair: Not ones to miss a freebie, ours was installed at the top of the cellar stairs where it can't do much harm.
- dwelling: A weaver's cellar dwelling - What a home would have been like a hundred years ago.
- door: They were at the cellar door, he thought.
- bar: There is also a cellar bar, with live music most nights.
Noun used with modifier
- wine: A doorway opens to a lobby with stone steps down to the wine cellar.
- coal: The earliest public musical concerts were held in a coal cellar in Britton Street.
- basement: Their 13-year-old son Tony, who was in the back basement cellar, survived.
- salt: To wager round petition listed his tail that extends salt cellars from.
- beer: The entrance to the beer cellar is from the restaurant area.
- champagne: Here you visit the centuries-old champagne cellars of Pannier.
Browse dictionary entries near cellar

