Cellar
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 An enclosed underground space, often under a building, used for storage or shelter.
"The farmhouse has several additions, added over many decades; it has three cellars, and one of them is older than the other two."
- 2 salt cellar
- 3 the lowermost portion of a structure partly or wholly below ground level; often used for storage wordnet
- 4 A wine collection, especially when stored in a cellar.
"The insurance company valued his cellar at $27,000, largely on the strength of his bottles of 1972 Château Hypothetica."
- 5 storage space where wines are stored wordnet
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- 6 Last place in a league or competition; some rank near last place. slang
"The Tigers have been in the cellar all year long, and I'm tired of it."
- 7 an excavation where root vegetables are stored wordnet
- 8 A basement. Northeastern, UK, US
"Most of my tools and hardware are in the garage, but I keep some tools in the cellar, too, mainly for convenience."
- 1 To store (something, especially food or wine) in a cellar. transitive
"Mr. VandenBerghe says he’s cellared such memorable bottles as the Batch 1 Adam from Hair of the Dog, a 14-year-old ale from Portland, Ore., that’s 10 percent alcohol, and the Trappistes Rochefort 10, a Quadrupel Belgian ale that peaks around age 10."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"A cellar was dug on top of the hill and they slowly moved the house from the road to the hill."
Etymology
From Middle English celer, seler, from Anglo-Norman celer, Old French celier (modern cellier), from Late Latin cellārium, from Latin cella. Doublet of cellarium.
From 15th century English saler, from French salière, from Latin salarius (“relating to salt”), from Latin sal (“salt”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.