chamber

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English[edit]

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Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

chamber (plural chambers)

  1. A room or set of rooms, particularly:
    1. Any individual's private room.
      • 1845, Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven,
        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. (Britain) A single law office in a building housing several.
    6. (dated, usually in the plural) Rooms in a lodging house.
      • Thackeray
        ...a bachelor's life in chambers...
  2. (obsolete) Clipping of chamber pot: a container used for urination and defecation in one's chambers.
  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. (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.
  6. (firearms) One of the bullet-holding compartments in the cylinder of a revolver.
  7. (historical) A short piece of ordnance or cannon which stood on its breech without any carriage, formerly used chiefly for celebrations and theatrical cannonades.

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from chamber

Translations[edit]

chamber pot — see chamber pot
legislative body
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

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. In 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.

Anagrams[edit]

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