boiler room

1. An area, as in a building or on a ship, that houses one or more steam boilers or hot-water tanks.

2. Informal A room equipped with telephones for making cold calls usually involving high-pressure or fraudulent sales pitches.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

boiler room

1. (General Engineering) any room in a building (often in the basement) that contains a boiler for central heating, etc

2. (Mechanical Engineering) the part of a steam ship that houses the boilers and furnaces

3. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) the room or department in which the real work of an organization goes on unseen

4. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) (chiefly US) an office used by a team of telephone salespeople, esp of stocks and shares, operating under high pressure

5. (Law)

a. a fraudulent scheme in which investors are encouraged to buy non-existent, worthless, or over-priced shares

b. (as modifier): a boiler-room scam.

6. (Stock Exchange)

a. a fraudulent scheme in which investors are encouraged to buy non-existent, worthless, or over-priced shares

b. (as modifier): a boiler-room scam.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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References in periodicals archive

The night, at The Boiler Room in Vyse Street, Hockley, also features Jimpster aka Audiomontage - the founder of Freerange Records - as well as Jigsaw residents Woody, Rich G, David Ames and Domu.

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IN THE entertaining Hollywood film, Boiler Room, twenty-something millionaires are made overnight.

FAMILY FINANCE: Don't let boiler burn you alive; As warnings go out about the latest tactics being used by so-called boiler rooms to con both UK investors and small businesses, Jane Hall looks at how to avoid being reeled in

"As we enter into the peak heating months, we encourage building managers and property owners to review their boiler room operations with our staff to ensure proper working order," said Louis Romano, senior vice president of Castle Oil Corporation.

Castle Oil offers winter fuel efficiency tips

Boiler Room, the recent and highly entertaining film about rogue stockbrokers who foist junk investments on unwitting and malleable investors, strives mightily to be more than a mere diversion.

Boiler Room Boilerplate

aTHE postscript to a boiler room scam tells you, in a sentence, why you should never deal with cold-callers who are flogging investments.

Boiler tricks just so cold

The consumers are being contacted after the Financial Services Authority and City of London Police found their personal details on a master list being used by criminals involved in so-called boiler room scams.

Watchdog warns of share sale fraudsters

The Financial Services Authority said 153 people had been returned cash they had put into a so-called boiler room, equivalent to 90 per cent of the money they had lost.

Watchdog retrieves pounds 1m lost in 'boiler room' scam; INVESTMENT

The blaze in the two-storey property was started in the boiler room, which was destroyed.

Flats arson

In the entertaining Hollywood film, Boiler Room, 20-something millionaires are made overnight.

If it's too good to be true, it really is

However, as the heating season rapidly approaches, now is the time for building managers and property owners to ensure their boiler room operations are in proper working order.

Don't forget boiler room basics