Look up: hypocaust

1. Hypocaust
   In ancient Roman baths, rooms, etc, a hypocaust was an arched chamber in which a fire was kindled for the purpose of giving heat to the rooms above it. The heat was distributed by means of tubes of earthenware and hollow passages under the floor, the heat rising through the floor and heating the roo...
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2. Hypocaust
   Roman central heating It works by hot air flowing through gaps between walls and flooring
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3. hypocaust
   Roman method of central heating: The floor was raised, usually on pilae, and flue-tiles acting as 'chimneys' were built in the thickness of the walls. The draught created by these flues enabled hot air to be drawn from the stoke-hole on the right in fig 4), where brushwood or other fuel was burnt, t...
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4. hypocaust
   Floor raised on tile piers, heated by hot air circulating beneath it. It was first used by the Romans for baths about 100 BC, and was later introduced to private houses. Hypocausts were a common...
   Found on http://www.encyclo.co.uk/local/20688
   
   
5. hypocaust
   The Roman used the hypocaust system as a form of central heating for heating rooms and also the water in bath houses (thermae). It is thought to have been developed in the 1st century BC by Gaius Sergius Orata. The underfloor heating system had hot air from basement fires flowing between the brick tile (bessales and bipedales) or concrete columns (…
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6. Hypocaust
   A raised floor in Roman buildings. This was supported by piled pieces of tile or stone columns. It allowed the circulation of air, (often warmed in the case of bath-houses and villas), throughout the building.
   Found on http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/k
   
   
7. Hypocaust
   Hyp'o·caust noun [ Latin hypocaustum , Greek ...; ... under + ... to burn: confer French hypocauste .] (Anc. Arch.) A furnace, esp. one connected with a series of small chambers and flues of tiles or other masonry through which the h...
   Found on http://www.encyclo.co.uk/webster/H/82
   
   
8. Hypocaust
   • (n.) A furnace, esp. one connected with a series of small chambers and flues of tiles or other masonry through which the heat of a fire was distributed to rooms above. This contrivance, first used in bath, was afterwards adopted in private houses.
   Found on http://thinkexist.com/dictionary/meaning
   
   
9. hypocaust
   in building construction, open space below a floor that is heated by gases from a fire or furnace below and that allows the passage of hot air to ... [2 related articles]
   Found on http://www.britannica.com/eb/a-z/h/92
   
   
10. hypocaust
    hypocaust In architecture, an open space below a floor to allow the passage of hot air and smoke in order to heat the room above. This type of heating was developed to a high degree by the Romans who used it not only in the warm and hot rooms of the baths, but also almost universally in private hou...
    Found on http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/inf
    
    
11. hypocaust
    hypocaust (hī'pukôst) : see heating.
    Found on http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A09145
    
    
12. hypocaust
    Floor raised on tile piers, heated by hot air circulating beneath it. It was first used by the Romans for baths about 100 BC, and was later introduced to private houses. Hypocausts were a common feature of stone houses in the colder parts of the Roman empire, but could not be used in timber-framed buildings. Typically the house of a wealthy per...
    Found on http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/ency
    
    
13. Hypocaust
    A `hypocaust` (Latin hypocaustum) was an ancient Roman system of central heating / underfloor heating. The hypocaust system is used to heat houses with hot air. The word literally means "fire beneath", from the Greek hypo meaning below or underneath, and kaiein, to bur...
    Found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocaust