cellar

UK: /ˈsɛlə^r/ US: /ˈsɛlɚ/ ,(sel′ər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

cel•lar /ˈsɛlɚ/   n. [countable]

1. Building a room or set of rooms underground and usually beneath a building:
   The furnace is down in the cellar.
2. Sport [ usually singular: the + ~] the last or lowest place in a ranking:
   The ball club went from the cellar to first place in just one year.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

cel•lar  (sel′ər), n. 

1. Building a room, or set of rooms, for the storage of food, fuel, etc., wholly or partly underground and usually beneath a building.
2. an underground room or story.
3. Wine See wine cellar. 
4. Sport the lowest position in a group ranked in order of games won:
   The team was in the cellar for most of the season.

v.t. 

5. to place or store in a cellar.

• Latin cellārium storeroom, equivalent. to cell(a) cell¹ + -ārium -ary; later respelling, respelled to reflect Latin form; see -er², -ar²
• Anglo-French
• Middle English celer 1175–1225

cel′lar•less, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

cellar / ˈsɛlə/ noun

1. an underground room, rooms, or storey of a building, usually used for storage
   Compare basement
2. a place where wine is stored
3. a stock of bottled wines

verb

1. (transitive) to store in a cellar

Etymology: 13th Century: from Anglo-French, from Latin cellārium food store, from cella cella