▪ I. chimney, n.
(ˈtʃɪmnɪ)
Forms: 4 chimenee, chymenay, 4–5 cheminey, chymeney(e, 4–7 chymney, 5– chimney. Also 4 chimenai, chymnee, chemne, chimne, 4–5 chymenei, -neye, chymne, chemney, chemyney, 5 chemeney, -enye, -ene, chymene, chymnei, -eny, -yney, chympne, schimnay, 5–6 chymny(e, 6 chim-, chameney, chyminey, chymnaye, chymmeney, chimnie, -nye, -nej, 6–7 chimneye, 7–8 chimny, Sc. 6 chim-, chymlay, chimblay, 8 chimla, 8–9 (also dial.) chimlie, -ley, -ly, chumley, -lay; also dial. and vulgar chimbly.
[ME. chimenee, etc., a. OF. (and mod.F.) cheminée fireplace, and chimney, corresp. to It. cam(m)inata fireplace, room with a fireplace:—late L. camīnāta, deriv. of L. camīnus ‘furnace, forge, oven’. Pliny (H.N. xvii. xi) has fossūra camīnāta ‘hole dug out oven-shape, wider below’. Caminata as n. occurs in a Frankish document anno 584 ‘solarium cum caminata’. From the persistence of the medial i in OF. it is seen that the word was not an ancient popular word, but a very early adoption of caminata with subsequent phonetic evolution. As the usual sense in med.L. is ‘room with a fireplace’, it is assumed that this was short for camera caminata. The sequence of senses as seen in It., Fr., and Eng. is ‘room with a fireplace’, ‘fireplace’, ‘smoke-vent over a fireplace’.]
† 1. a. A fireplace or hearth. Obs. exc. dial.
| a 1330 Syr Degarre 352 Ase fer out of a chimenai. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 875 A cheyer by-fore þe chemné, þer charcole brenned, Watz grayþed for Syr Gawan. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2232 Þan was þer on a chymenay a gret fyr þat brente rede. 1461–83 Ord. R. Househ. 22 For his [the King's] own person, one chymney brenning day and night. 1632 Milton L'Allegro 111 And stretch'd out all the chimney's length Basks at the fire his hairy strength. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 79 ¶1 The Rules of Ben's Club, which are in Gold Letters over the Chimney. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxvii, ‘The honest man thought it was best to gang and sit by the chimley when the reek rase’. |
† b. Including the flue or vent over it.
Obs.| 1519 W. Horman Vulg. xvi, The shanke or tonel of the chymney voydeth nat the smoke. 1577 Harrison England ii. xii. (1877) i. 239 The multitude of chimnies latelie erected, wheras in their yoong daies..ech one made his fire against a reredosse in the hall. 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. ix. 29 One great chimney, whose long tonnell thence The smoke forth threw. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The parts of a chimney are the jambs, or sides..the tube or funnel which conveys away the smoke..and the hearth, or fire-place. |
† c. ? The ornamental structure of marble, wood, etc., around a fireplace; a
chimney-piece.
| 1538 Leland Itin. (1769) V. 79 The Chaumbre wher King Henri the vii. was borne, in Knowlege wherof a Chymmeney is new made with the Armes and Badges of King Henri the vii. 1668 Pepys Diary 23 Nov., And so to buy a picture for our blue-chamber chimney. 1863 Robson Bards of Tyne 313 Reed roarin' chucks on the chimley aw'll place. |
† 2. Translating
Gr. κάµινος, L.
camīnus, furnace.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4368 His fete er like latoun bright Als in a chymné brynnand light. c 1550 Cheke Matt. xiii. 42 Y{supi} schal throw yem in to y⊇ Chimnej of fijr. 1611 Bible 2 Esdras vi. 4 Or euer the chimnies in Sion were hot. |
† 3. A (portable) fire-grate, fire-pan, stove.
Obs.| c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xxxv, A schimnay of charcole, to chaufen the knyȝte. 15.. Burrow Lawes c. 125 §1 (Jam.) [Moveabill heirschip]..ane bag to put money in..ane chimney, ane water-pot. 1558 Inv. in J. Croft Excerpta Ant. (1697) 25 Item, one Iron chimley..vj. viij. a 1572 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 177 And so was brought ane chymlay full of burnyng coallis. 1616 in Raine Hist. N. Durham 243. [Cf. 1861 Our Eng. Home 128.] |
4. a. The passage or flue by which the smoke from a fire or furnace ascends and escapes.
| c 1400 Sowdone Bab. 2351 In to Floripas bour. By a Chemney he wente inne. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 75 Chymney, fumarium. 1538 Leland Itin. (1710–2) VIII. ii. 66 b, One thinge I muche notyd in the Haulle of Bolton, how Chimeneys were conveyed by Tunnells made on the syds of the Wauls..and by this meanes, and by no Covers is the smoke..wonder strangly convayed. 1582 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 424 All chymneys..shall.. be swept fower tymes everie yeare. 1767 T. Hutchinson Hist. Prov. Mass. iii. 326 Like to the roaring of a chimney when on fire. 1868 Daily News 10 Oct., Mr. Arnold said that the legislature had used a strange expression in the phrase ‘chimney on fire’, which must clearly mean the soot within it. |
b. The part of the flue raised like a turret above the roof of a house.
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 798 Chalk whyt chymnees þer ches he in noȝe, Vpon bastel rouez, þat blenked ful quyte. 1467 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 372 That no chimneys of tre ner thached houses be suffred w{supt}yn the cyte. 1494 Fabyan vii. 475 It blewe downe stronge & myghty buyldyngs, as toures, steples, houses & chymneys. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 60 The Night ha's been vnruly: Where we lay, our Chimneys were blowne downe. 1632 Milton L'Allegro 81 Hard by a Cottage chimney smokes From betwixt two aged okes. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 56 A multitude of Storks..building upon their Chimnies. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede 58 Farther on,..they can just see the chimneys of the Hall Farm. |
c. Phr.
to smoke like a chimney: to smoke (cigarettes, etc.) very heavily.
| 1840 Barham Lay of St. Odille in Bentley's Misc. VII. 172 A German, Who smoked like a chimney. 1870 L. M. Alcott Old-Fash. Girl x. 157 Tom lay on the sofa.., reading ‘Pendennis’ for the fourth time, and smoking like a chimney as he did so. 1911 A. W. Pinero Mid-Channel iv. 217 Zoe smokes like a chimney. |
5. a. The funnel which carries off smoke or steam from a locomotive engine, steam-boat, etc.
b. A tube of glass placed over the wick of a lamp to protect the flame and promote combustion.
| 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 5 Furnished with a cover and chimney. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 601 They see her [river steamer] lower her chimney to pass beneath the arch. 1857 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 171/1 In some lamps..the same effect is produced by the contraction of the cylindrical glass chimney. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 41 The clouds of steam which issue from the chimney of a locomotive engine. |
6. transf. a. Applied to a natural vent or opening in the earth's surface,
esp. that of a volcano.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. iv. 12 Þe vnstable mountaigne þat hyȝt Veseuus . þat wircheþ oute þoruȝ hys brokene chemineys smokyng fires. 1684–5 Boyle Min. Waters 19 Whether at or near the mouth or orifice, of the above mentioned chimneys or vents, there be found..flowers of Brimstone. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 189 The ejected matter has fallen all round the orifice in conical layers..sloping in all directions away from the central chimney. 1887 C. F. Holder Living Lights 13. |
† b. A vent for humours or ‘fumosities’ of the body.
Obs.| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. ii. (1495) 103 The heed is the chymeneye and helynge [caminus sive tectum sive cooperculum] of alle the body, and therfore it takyth in itself many fumosytees that come out of al the body. 1684 Boyle Porousn. Anim. & Solid Bod. iii. 15, I look upon the Windpipe as the great Chimney of the Body, in comparison of those little Chimneys in the Skin, at which the matter that is wasted by perspiration is emitted. 1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. v. v, Acute Distempers..arising from a Diminution of Transpiration through the cutaneous Chimneys. |
7. In an organ: A narrow tube inserted in the ‘cap’ or top of a stopped metal pipe, which allows a part of the air to escape and has the effect of sharpening the note.
| 1876 J. Hiles Catech. Organ iv. (1878) 28 There are half-stopped pipes which have in the cap or stopper a small tube, or chimney, and hence called, in France, flûte à cheminée. 1880 Hopkins in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 538/1. |
8. A name given by mountain-climbers to a cleft in a vertical cliff by which it may be scaled, usually by pressing rigidly against the opposite sides.
| 1871 Whymper Scrambles in the Alps 119, I lowered myself through the chimney, however. Mod. The ‘great Chimney’ of the Pillar Rock in Ennerdale. |
9. Mining. An ore-shoot (Raymond
Min. Gloss.)
| 1860 San Francisco News Let. 20 Jan. 5/1 Silver ore is found in what are termed chimneys,..the lead..dropping sometimes two or three thousand feet, and sometimes turning short. 1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xviii. 334 It may be a ‘chimney’ from some lode ten thousand feet away through solid rock. 1873 J. Miller Life amongst Modocs xviii. 226 A pouch in the rock—a little ‘chimney’ that nurses a few thousand dollars worth of dust about the flue. |
10. General comb., chiefly
attrib.:
a. lit., as
chimney-fire,
chimney-flue,
chimney-grate,
chimney-ornament,
chimney-pier,
chimney-smoke,
chimney-smutch,
chimney-tile,
chimney-vault, etc.;
chimney-like adj.| 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. I. iv. App. 157 The design of a *chimney-fire being to warm a room. |
| 1763 Ferguson in Phil. Trans. LIII. 171 The straight bars of a *chimney-grate. |
| 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. i. v. (ed. 2) 113 At Moye Point are two *chimney-like holes. |
| 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 196 Elegant and cheap *chimney ornaments. |
| 1879 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 298 There are remnants of simple but well-designed *chimney-piers. |
| 1872 E. Peacock Mabel Heron I. ii. 16 Far from furnace-glare and *chimney-smoke. |
| 1791 Cowper Odyss. xviii. 34 Like an old hag Collied with *chimney-smutch! |
| 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Race Wks. (Bohn) II. 29 The pictures on the *chimney-tiles of his nursery. |
| c 1820 S. Rogers Italy, Naples 124 The ample *chimney-vault is dun with smoke. |
b. in sense ‘belonging to the fire-side or chimney-corner, fireside-’ (chiefly depreciatory), as
chimney-cavalier,
chimney-minstrel,
chimney-preacher,
chimney-tale,
chimney-talk.
| 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. ii. (Arb.) 41 Sir Raderick keepes no *chimney Cauelere, That takes Tobacco aboue once a yeare. |
| 1656 Trapp Comm. Rev. vi. 13 Rome's dunghill deities, together with their chemarims or *chimney-chaplains, the priests. |
| 1801 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Tears & Smiles Wks. 1812 V. 70 *Chimney-minstrels, crickets call'd. |
| 1549 Bale in Pref. Cheke's Hurt Sedition (1641) b, These *chimney-Preachers, and bench-Bablers. |
| a 1683 Oldham Wks. & Rem. (1686) 53 Old Wives, in Superstition over-grown, With *Chimny-Tales, and Stories best are won. |
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, cccxlvi, But it will out; for Chronicles haue made It Common *Chimney talke. 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 44 Things..that serve for chimney and market-talk. |
11. Special combs.:
chimney-back, the back of a fireplace;
† chimney-bacon, smoke-dried bacon;
chimney-bar, an iron bar supporting the masonry above a fireplace;
chimney bellflower, ?
= chimney-plant;
chimney-board, a board used to close up a fireplace in summer;
chimney-breast, that projecting part of the wall which is between the chimney-flue and the room;
chimney-can = chimney-pot;
chimney cap, (
a) the top of a chimney, either as an ornament or as a cover; (
b)
= cowl n.1 4;
chimney-cleaner,
-cleanser, a chimney-sweeper;
chimney-doctor, one who cures smoking chimneys;
chimney-glass, (
a) the looking-glass commonly placed over a chimney-piece; (
b) ‘gardener's name, on the Bombay side of India, for the flower and plant
Allamanda cathartica’ (Sir G. Birdwood in Yule);
chimney-hat = chimney-pot hat (see
chimney-pot);
chimney-head = chimney-top 1;
chimney-hook, a hook or crook on which to suspend pots and pans over a fire, or for other purposes (see
quot.);
chimney-jack, (
a) a rotating chimney-pot or cowl; (
b)
= steeple jack (see
steeple n.1 7);
chimney-jamb (see
quot.);
chimley-,
chimla-lug (
Sc.), the side or ‘cheek’ of the fireplace;
† chimney-man, the collector of
chimney-money;
† chimney-mantle, a mantelpiece;
chimney neck, the shaft of a chimney;
chimney-nook,
chimley-nuik (
Sc.)
= chimney-corner;
chimney-plant, a name for
Campanula pyramidalis, which is placed as an ornament before fireplaces in the summer (
Treas. Bot.);
† chimney-publican, a farmer of the
chimney-money;
chimney rock, (
a)
Geol., a chimney-shaped body of rock; (
b) in Florida, a porous phosphate rock used in building;
chimney-shaft = chimney-stalk;
† chimney-shank, a flue;
chimney-side, one of the two vertical sides of a fireplace; chimney corner, fire-side (
obs. or
arch.);
chimney-stack, (
a) a group of chimney-stalks, united in one block; (
b)
= chimney-stalk (b);
chimney-stalk, (
a) the part of a chimney which rises, detached, from a house-top; (
b) a tall chimney built to carry off the smoke from a mill, factory, etc.;
† chimney-stock, (?) one of the upright sides of a chimney or grate;
chimney-swallow, (
a) the common swallow,
Hirundo rustica; (
b)
= chimney-swift;
chimney-swift, a species of swift,
Chætura pelagica;
chimney-tax = chimney-money;
chimney-throat, the narrowest part of a chimney, between the gathering and the flue;
chimney-tun (
dial.)
= chimney-stalk.
| 1764 T. H. Croker, etc. Dict. Arts s.v. Chimney, The mouth of the tube, or that part joined to the *chimney back. |
| 1566 Drant Horace's Sat. ii. ii. F v, With better meate..then..*chimnye bacon. |
| 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §79 The fire-places to have each a strong iron *chimney-bar. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 156/2 Chimney bar, an iron bar supporting the arch over a fireplace opening. |
| 1884 Gardening Illustr. 8 Nov. 426/2 A garden of Bell Worts..might include.. the *Chimney Bell⁓flower. |
| 1708 S. Centlivre Busie Bod. iv. iv. 64 Can you condescend to stand behind this *Chimney-Board, Sir George? 1796 Jane Austen Sense & Sens. xxxviii, She never made any bones of hiding..behind a chimney-board, on purpose to hear what we said. |
| 1843 Lever J. Hinton iii. 10 A mirror of gigantic proportions occupied the *chimney-breast. |
| 1824 Ann. Reg. 140 Edinburgh—A strong gale..came on from the north-east, and the usual demolition of *chimney-cans, slates, etc. ensued. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) II. 127 A remarkable class of urns..described in the old Statistical Reports as resembling chimney-cans. |
| 1847 Rep. Comm. Patents 1846 (U.S.) 221 What I claim, therefore, as my invention..is a ventilator or *chimney cap. 1910 B. Pite et al. Building Construction I. 160 Chimney caps are so usual that the advisability of avoiding heaviness in their arrangement and design may be pointed out. |
| 1906 Daily Chron. 20 July 4/6 Mechanical *chimney-cleaner. 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §924 Sweep, chimney sweep; chimney cleaner. 1952 ‘R. Crompton’ William & Tramp v. 162 William carried his tin of red paint, Ginger his chimney cleaner. |
| 1905 Daily Chron. 11 Jan. 4/7 John Smith or so, ‘*chimney-cleanser’. |
| 1772 Acc. in Tomlinson Doncaster (1887) 237 Mr. Allen the *Chimney Doctor, for two chimneys. |
| 1809 R. Langford Introd. Trade 81 A *Chimney Glass and a pair of Sconces. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxii, Sticking the card in the chimney-glass. |
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. iv. iv. (L.) As great Sol scatters his first fire-handful, tipping the hills and *chimney-heads with gold. |
| 1726 Neve Builder's Dict. (ed. 2) *Chimney hooks. These are Hooks of Steel or Brass put into the Jambs of the Chimney..for the handle of the Fire-pan, and Tongs to rest in. |
| 1907 Westm. Gaz. 16 Mar. 10/1 A competent *chimney-jack was despatched up a rope to work upon the crack. |
| 1726 Neve Builder's Dict. (ed. 2) *Chimney⁓jambs. The sides of a Chimney..on the Extremities of which the Mantle-tree resteth. 1887 Tourgée Button's Inn 253 ‘I don't know, sir,’ she responded, setting the spider in its place by the chimney-jamb. |
| 1785 Burns Ep. to Davie i, While frosty winds blaw in the drift, Ben to the *chimla lug. |
| a 1695 Wood Life (1848) 201 The King's revenue in customs, excise, and *chimney men. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xi. 36 Nor could the Treasury..restrain the chimneyman from using his powers with harshness; for the tax was farmed. |
| 1663 Gerbier Counsel 22 The *Chimney⁓mantles ought to be all of Stone or Marble. |
| 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §983 Deal sarking..to be laid on each side of the roof and *chimney necks (shafts). |
| 1637 B. Jonson Sad Sheph. i. ii, Alken. Where saw you her? Scath. In the *chimney-nuik within. 1788 Burns Friar's-Carse Hermitage (2nd version) Seek the chimney-nook of ease. 1816 Scott Old Mort. vii, ‘Ilka auld wife in the chimley-neuck’. |
| 1671 Butler Rem., In mem. Duval vi, Th' Excise and *Chimney-Publican. |
| 1847 in Utah Humanities Rev. (1948) 125 *Chimney Rock was still visible down the River. 1870 Congr. Globe App. 26 Mar. 225/2 The marbles of our western border have heretofore served as ‘chimney rock’ for the cabin of the luxurious border farmer. 1877 J. Applegate in Trans. Oregon Pioneer Assoc. 1876 IV. 59 The Chimney Rock, Court House, and other bluffs. |
| 1662 Gerbier Princ. 9 Exorbitant *Chimney-Shafts. 1879 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 265 With the fireplace came that other modern feature, the chimney-shaft. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Chymney shanke, or tonel, fumarij. |
| 1732 Swift Sacr. Test. (J.) Low offices, which some neighbours hardly think it worth stirring from their *chimney sides to obtain. 1824 Scott Let. 18 Feb. in Lockhart, An accurate sketch of the windows and chimney sides of the drawing room. 1841–44 Emerson Ess. Heroism Wks. (Bohn) I. 104 The nook and chimney-side of prudence. |
| 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge lxiv, Roof and *chimney-stack seemed drunk. 1862 Lytton Str. Story 8 Abrupt gables and lofty chimney-stacks. 1883 M. P. Bale Saw-Mills 75 An important factor in the economical working of boilers is the correct arrangement of the chimney stack. 1903 ‘A. McNeill’ Egregious English 48 The top of the factory chimney-stack. |
| 1828 Scott Tapestr. Chamb., Ancient wreathed and carved *chimney-stalks. 1866 Athenæum No. 2009. 566/2 Two enormous chimney-stalks. |
| 1602 How Choose Gd. Wife fr. Bad iii. iii. in Hazl. Dodsley IX. 54 He had a pound of soap to scour his face, And yet his brow looks like the *Chimney-stock. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 181 The crickets chirping behind the chimney⁓stock. |
| 1775 White in Phil. Trans. LXV. 258 The house-swallow, or *chimney-swallow, is..the first comer of all the British hirundines. 1789 Morse Amer. Geogr. 60 Red winged Starling, Swallow, Chimney do. 1809 S. Williams Hist. Vermont (ed. 2) I. 140 The species called the house or chimney swallow, has been found during the winter, in hollow trees. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 231/1 Chaetura p[e]lagica, the ‘chimney-swallow’ of the United States. |
| 1849 Audubon's Western Jrnl. (1906) 129 Fifteen or twenty swifts, about double the size of our common *chimney swift at home. 1898 Atlantic Monthly Apr. 456/1 Chimney-swifts were shooting hither and thither athwart the sky. 1930 J. S. Huxley Bird-Watching ii. 38 Some barn-swallows and chimney-swifts. |
| 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 37 An Act by which the *chimney tax was declared a badge of slavery. |
| 1800 J. Hurdis Fav. Village 165 Perch'd on the brink of *chimney-throat profound. 1869 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 371 The chimney throat was contracted so as to lessen the draught. |
| 1600 Inscr. on Porch at Beaupré, Glamorgansh. in N. & Q. (1871) 2 Sept. Rycharde Basset..Bwylt This Porch With The *Chymnye Tunnes. 1875 Jefferies Wild Life in S. C. 168 On the great chimney-tuns, as country folk call them, and in the ivy, tribes of birds have taken up their residence. |
▪ II. ˈchimney, v. [f. the n.] 1. trans. To furnish with a chimney or chimneys.
nonce-wd.| 1833 Lamb Elia, Old Margate Hoy, A great sea chimera, chimneying and furnacing the deep. |
2. colloq. (Also with
up.) To climb a chimney (
chimney n. 8).
| 1940 F. S. Chapman Helvellyn to Himalaya i. 15 A gully which was just too wide to ‘chimney up’, that is, to jam oneself between two rock walls and to wriggle up by extreme muscular exertion. 1957 J. Masters Far the Mountain Peak iii. 32 He had his back against the wall and his feet against a projection... He came on down, ‘chimneying’..you held yourself in place by pressing your back against one surface and your feet against the other. |