ˈchimney-corner
[see chimney n. 1.]
1. The corner or side of an open fireplace or hearth, i.e. of the large projecting or retreating fireplace of olden times; ‘the fireside; the seat on each end of the firegrate’ (J.); familiarly treated as the place of the old, the infirm, and idle.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Vn Cendrier, he that keepeth the chimney corner, a sluggard. 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 40 A tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner. 1674 R. Godfrey Inj. & Ab. Physic Pref., Every one has the priviledg to speak his mind in his Chimney-Corner. 1820 Scott Monast. Introd. Ep., The parson would not leave the quiet of his chimney-corner. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxxiii, All but confined to the chimney-corner now. |
2. attrib. (Cf. chimney 10 b.)
| 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 300 To be made at length a Winters Tale, and Chimney-corner Discourse. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 46 A chimney-corner tale, fit for a legend. 1832–4 De Quincey Cæsars Wks. X. 29 note, A chimney-corner politician..a mere speculator or unpractical dreamer. 1878 Emerson Sovereignty of Ethics in N. Amer. Rev. CXXVI. 417 A sterile chimney-corner philosophy. |