Meaning & use
hypocaust heating system
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablespecialist
An ancient Roman way of warming a building in which hot air from a furnace flowed through spaces under the floor and inside the walls.
Grammar: Regular plural: hypocaust heating systems.
Patterns
- a hypocaust heating system in something
Archaeologists uncovered a hypocaust heating system beneath the villa floor.
The hypocaust heating system kept the Roman baths pleasantly warm.
Pillars of stacked tiles held up the floor of the hypocaust heating system.
Word forms
| plural | hypocaust heating systems |
|---|
Common combinations
- Roman hypocaust heating system
- A Roman hypocaust heating system survives at the museum.
- install a hypocaust heating system
- Wealthy Romans installed a hypocaust heating system in their villas.
- remains of a hypocaust heating system
- The remains of a hypocaust heating system were found beneath the field.
- fuel the hypocaust
- Slaves had to fuel the hypocaust heating system day and night.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hypocaust
- Hypocaust is the shorter, standard name for the same thing and is how historians usually refer to it.
- underfloor heating
- Underfloor heating is the modern term for warming a floor, with pipes or cables instead of furnace air.
- central heating
- Central heating warms a whole building from a single source, but typically through pipes and radiators.
- furnace system
- Furnace system is a generic phrase and carries no sense of Roman underfloor channels.
Word family
Commonly confused: hypocaust heating system or hypothermia?
hypocaust heating system vs hypothermia
Hypothermia is a dangerous drop in body temperature, while hypocaust is a Roman heating system, though both begin with hypo-.
Practice
In Roman baths, hot air circulating beneath the floor was provided by the ____.
Choose one answer.
The hypocaust heating system channeled furnace air under floors. An aqueduct carried water, so it does not provide heat.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hypocaust heating system”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.