Bible Dictionary
Cellar
A cellar was a subterranean room or vault used for storage. Related biblical terms may also mean stores, supplies, or a hidden place.
Definition
A cellar was a subterranean or covered room, vault, or storehouse. The term could also refer to a treasury, though some passages more accurately mean stores or supplies of wine and oil.
Biblical Usage
A cellar appears as a hidden or covered place beneath a house. Related terms designate storehouses, treasuries, garners, and armories.
Historical Background
Cellars were used more often in larger houses. Excavations show that old houses in ruined towns were sometimes reused as cellars for later buildings.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
A subterranean vault (1 Chr. 27:28), a storehouse. The word is also used to denote the treasury of the temple (1 Kings 7:51) and of the king (14:26). The Hebrew word is rendered “garner” in Joel 1:17, and “armoury” in Jer. 50:25.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>sel'-er, sel'-ar (krupte; 'otsar): Krupte is found only in Lu 11:33, and is rendered "cellar" in the Revised Version (British and American); the King James Version has "secret place." In this passage it doubtless means a cellar beneath a house. Etymologically the Greek word means "a covered place," and in classical Greek its usage includes vaults and crypts as well as cellars. It seems evident that it was only the larger houses in Palestine in which cellars were used with any frequency. It is shown by the excavations that in rebuilding a town which was in ruins the old houses were sometimes utilized as cellars for the new. 'otsar, is rendered cellar only in 1Ch 27:27 f. It is an erroneous rendering, the correct meaning being stores, or supplies, of wine and oil.</p><p>George Ricker Berry</p>