a. and sb. [ad. L. calefactōrius having heating power, f. calefacĕre to warm; in B, ad. med.L. calefactōrium a place or appliance for warming.]
A. adj. Adapted for or tending to warming.
1711. J. Puckle, Club (1817), 53. Love, like sunbeams … contracted to one object is fervent and calefactory.
1847. [M. W. Savage], Bachelor of Albany (1848), 78. Imagine the Narrowsmiths giving a house-warming, the Narrowsmiths who know less about calefactory arrangements and thermal comforts than any family in England.
B. sb. 1. ‘The room in a monastery where the inmates warmed themselves.
1681. Blount, Glossogr., Califactory, is a room in a Monastery, with one or more fires in it, where the Religious persons warm themselves, after they come from Matins.
1774. T. West, Antiq. Furness (1805), 73. The locutorium, calefactory, and conversation room.
1844. S. R. Maitland, Dark Ages, 406. Warmed by hot air from the stove in the calefactory.
2. A warming-pan; the ball of precious metal containing hot water, on which the priest warmed his hands when administering the eucharist in cold weather; otherwise called the pome.
1536. Inv. Lincoln Cathedral, in Monasticon Anglic., VIII. 1281. A calefactory, silver and gilt, with leaves graven, weighing nine ounces and half.
1536. Regist. Riches, in Antiq. Sarisb. (1771), 198. A Fat of Silver for holy water … a calefactory, silver and gilt with divers Scriptures.
† 3. = CALEFACIENT sb.
1657. Tomlinson, Renou’s Disp., 203. Many calefactories … as Pepper, Bartram, Bitumen.
