ˈchimney-ˌsweeper
1. One whose business it is to sweep chimneys, in order to remove the soot.
| c 1500 Cocke Lorell's B. (1843) 11 Chymney swepers, and costerde mongers. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 266 To look like her are Chimny-sweepers blacke. 1719 D'Urfey Pills IV. 198 A Chimny-sweeper, with his Brooms, his Poles and Shackles. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 360 Dressed..like..English chimney-sweepers on May-day. |
b. chimney-sweeper's cancer: ‘epithelioma of the scrotum, caused by the irritation of soot’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
2. A stiff radiating brush fixed on a long jointed rod, used for cleaning chimneys; a sweep's brush.
(Introduced in 1805 to supersede the use of climbing boys.)
3. Collector's name for a small black British moth (Tanagra chærophyllata).
So ˈchimney-sweeping vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1599 Nashe Lent. Stuffe 38 Such chimnie sweeping attributes of smoking and parching. 1650 Venner Tobacco 412 Attended with Chimney-sweeping Lackeys. 1836–9 Dickens Sk. Boz, First of May, Chimney-sweeping had become a favorite..pursuit. |