chimney definition

English

Alternative forms

• chimley, chimbley (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English chymeney, chymney, chymne, from Old French cheminee, from Late Latin camīnāta, from Latin camīnus, from Ancient Greek κάμῑνος (kámīnos, “furnace”). Doublet of chimenea.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪmni/, (proscribed) /ˈt͡ʃɪməni/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

chimney (plural chimneys or (archaic) chimnies)

1. A vertical tube or hollow column used to emit environmentally polluting gaseous and solid matter (including but not limited to by-products of burning carbon- or hydrocarbon-based fuels); a flue.

   Synonym: (Northern England, Scotland) lum

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     Our chimney was a square hole in the roof: it was but a little part of the smoke that found its way out, and the rest eddied about the house, and kept us coughing and piping the eye.

   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 112:

     Witches always anointed themselves with ointments before departing up the chimney to their Sabbaths.

2. The glass flue surrounding the flame of an oil lamp.
3. (Britain) The smokestack of a steam locomotive.
4. A narrow cleft in a rock face; a narrow vertical cave passage.
5. (vulgar, euphemistic) A vagina.
6. (Northern Ireland, slang) A black eye; a shiner.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Bengali: চিমনি (cimoni)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: चिमनी (cimnī)

  Urdu: چمنی‎ (cimnī)

Translations

Verb

chimney (third-person singular simple present chimneys, present participle chimneying, simple past and past participle chimneyed)

1. (climbing) To negotiate a chimney (narrow vertical cave passage) by pushing against the sides with back, feet, hands, etc.

See also

• cowl
• fireplace
• flaunching
• flue
• smokestack
• stove