chimney
/ˈt͡ʃɪmni/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.55 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
noun
The glass flue surrounding the flame of an oil lamp.
noun
A vagina.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "The external aspect of the oficina was not unlike that of a north-country coal or iron mine—tall chimneys and machinery, corrugated iron buildings, offices and houses, the shanties of workmen, a high bank of refuse."
- "Witches always anointed themselves with ointments before departing up the chimney to their Sabbaths."
- "By next winter he was spending every evening poring over the work of Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné on the French Reformation by the light of a little oil lamp, with a tiny cistern the size of an orange and no chimney[.]"
Etymology
From Middle English chymeneye, chymneye, chymene, from Old French cheminee, from Late Latin camīnāta, from Latin camīnus, from Ancient Greek κάμῑνος (kámīnos, “furnace”). Doublet of chimenea.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *kh₂em-, chymeneye, cheminee, camīnāta, camīnus, κάμῑνος
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈt͡ʃɪmni/
- British English: /ˈt͡ʃɪmni/