chamber definition

English

Alternative forms

• chambre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English chambre, borrowed from Old French chambre, from Latin camera, from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “vaulted chamber”). Doublet of camera.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtʃeɪmbə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃeɪmbɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪmbə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: cham‧ber

Noun

chamber (plural chambers)

1. A room or set of rooms, particularly:
   1. The private room of an individual, especially of someone wealthy or noble.
      • 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review‎^[1], volume I, number II, New York, N.Y.; London: Wiley & Putnam, […], OCLC 1015246566, page 143:

        Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, / Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, / While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, / As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

   2. A bedroom.
   3. The private office of a judge.
   4. The room used for deliberation by a legislature.
   5. (UK) A single law office in a building housing several.
   6. (dated, usually in the plural) Rooms in a lodging house.
      • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Which Had Very Nearly Been the Last of the Story”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, OCLC 2057953, page 120:

        A committee of marriageable ladies, or of any Christian persons interested in the propagation of the domestic virtues, should employ a Cruikshank or a Leech, or some other kindly expositor of the follies of the day, to make a series of designs representing the horrors of a bachelor's life in chambers, and leading the beholder to think of better things, and a more wholesome condition.

2. (obsolete) Ellipsis of chamber pot.: a container used for urination and defecation in one's chambers.
   • 1946, Elizabeth Metzger Howard, Before the Sun Goes Down, page 31:

     "Jesus Christ! Was my folks refined. My mam she wouldn't think-a lettin' us young'uns call a pee pot a pee pot. A chamber's what she called it... And by God! Us young'uns had ter call the pee pot a chamber or git our God damn necks wrang."

3. (figuratively) The legislature or division of the legislature itself.

   The resolution, which speedily passed the Senate, was unable to gain a majority in the lower chamber.

4. Any enclosed space occupying or similar to a room.

   A canal lock chamber; a furnace chamber; a test chamber

5. (biology) An enlarged space in an underground tunnel of a burrowing animal.
6. (firearms) The area holding the ammunition round at the initiation of its discharge.

   Dianne loaded a cartridge into the chamber of the rifle, then prepared to take aim at the target.

7. (firearms) One of the bullet-holding compartments in the cylinder of a revolver.
8. (historical) A short piece of ordnance or cannon which stood on its breech without any carriage, formerly used chiefly for celebrations and theatrical cannonades.
9. One of the two atria or two ventricles of the heart.

Synonyms

• (chamber pot): See Thesaurus:chamber pot

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

chamber (third-person singular simple present chambers, present participle chambering, simple past and past participle chambered)

1. To enclose in a room.

   She had chambered herself in her room, and wouldn't come out.

2. To reside in or occupy a chamber or chambers.
   • 1893, Publications of the Scottish History Society, volume 14, page 64:

     I chambered with Alexander Preston.

3. To place in a chamber, as a round of ammunition.

   The hunter fired at the geese and missed, then shrugged his shoulders and chambered another cartridge.

4. To create or modify a gun to be a specific caliber.

   The rifle was originally chambered for 9mm, but had since been modified for a larger, wildcat caliber.

5. (martial arts) To prepare an offensive, defensive, or counteroffensive action by drawing a limb or weapon to a position where it may be charged with kinetic energy.

   Bob chambered his fist for a blow, but Sheila struck first.

6. (obsolete) To be lascivious.

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

Synonyms

• (to be lascivious): blissom, lust; see also Thesaurus:harlotize

Anagrams

• becharm, chambre, chambré