chimney

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See also: çhymney

English[edit]

 chimney on Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

chimney (plural chimneys or (archaic) chimnies)

a chimney
  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. (British) 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[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • Bengali: চিমনি (cimoni)
  • Hindustani:
    Hindi: चिमनी (cimnī)
    Urdu: چِمْنی (cimnī)

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb[edit]

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[edit]