Chimney sb. World English Historical Dictionary

Chimney sb. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1893, rev. 2025. Chimney sb. 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 sb. 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   † 1.  A fireplace or hearth. Obs. exc. dial.

2 c. 1330.  Syr Degarre, 352. Ase fer out of a chimenai.

3 c. 1340.  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 875. A cheyer by-fore þe chemné, þer charcole brenned, Watz grayþed for Syr Gawan.

4 c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 2232. Þan was þer on a chymenay a gret fyr þat brente rede.

5 1461–83.  Ord. R. Househ., 22. For his [the King’s] own person, one chymney brenning day and night.

6 1632.  Milton, L’Allegro, 111. And stretch’d out all the chimney’s length Basks at the fire his hairy strength.

7 1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 79, ¶ 1. The Rules of Ben’s Club, which are in Gold Letters over the Chimney.

8 1816.  Scott, Old Mort., xxvii. ‘The honest man thought it was best to gang and sit by the chimley when the reek rase.’

9   † b.  Including the flue or vent over it. Obs.

10 1519.  Horman, Vulg., xvi. The shanke or tonel of the chymney voydeth nat the smoke.

11 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.

12 1596.  Spenser, F. Q., II. ix. 29. One great chimney, whose long tonnell thence The smoke forth threw.

13 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.

14   † c.  ? The ornamental structure of marble, wood, etc., around a fireplace; a CHIMNEY-PIECE.

15 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.

16 1668.  Pepys, Diary, 23 Nov. And so to buy a picture for our blue-chamber chimney.

17 1863.  Robson, Bards of Tyne, 313. Reed roarin’ chucks on the chimley aw’ll place.

18   † 2.  Translating Gr. κάμινος, L. camīnus, furnace.

19 c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4368. His fete er like latoun bright Als in a chymné brynnand light.

20 c. 1550.  Cheke, Matt. xiii. 42. Yel schal throw yem in to ye Chimnej of fijr.

21 1611.  Bible, 2 Esdras vi. 4. Or euer the chimnies in Sion were hot.

22   † 3.  A (portable) fire-grate, fire-pan, stove. Obs.

23 c. 1420.  Anturs of Arth., xxxv. A schimnay of charcole, to chaufen the knyȝte.

24 15[?].  Burrow Lawes, c. 125 § 1 (Jam.). [Moveabill heirschip] … ane bag to put money in … ane chimney, ane water-pot.

25 1558.  Inv., in J. Croft, Excerpta Ant. (1697), 25. Item, one Iron chimley … vj. viij.

26 a. 1572.  Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 177. And so was brought ane chymlay full of burnyng coallis.

27 1616.  in Raine, Hist. N. Durham, 243.

28 [Cf. 1861.  Our Eng. Home, 128.]

29   4.  The passage or flue by which the smoke from a fire or furnace ascends and escapes.

30 c. 1400.  Sowdone Bab., 2351. In to Floripas bour. By a Chemney he wente inne.

31 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 75. Chymney, fumarium.

32 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.

33 1582.  in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford, 424. All chymneys … shall … be swept fower tymes everie yeare.

34 1767.  T. Hutchinson, Hist. Prov. Mass., iii. 326. Like to the roaring of a chimney when on fire.

35 1868.  Daily News, 10 Oct., 6/2. 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.

36   b.  The part of the flue raised like a turret above the roof of a house.

37 c. 1340.  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 798. Chalk whyt chymnees þer ches he in noȝe, Vpon bastel rouez, þat blenked ful quyte.

38 1467.  in Eng. Gilds (1870), 372. That no chimneys of tre ner thached houses be suffred wtyn the cyte.

39 1494.  Fabyan, VII. 475. It blewe downe stronge & myghty buyldyngs, as toures, steples, houses & chymneys.

40 1605.  Shaks., Macb., II. iii. 60. The Night ha’s been vnruly: Where we lay, our Chimneys were blowne downe.

41 1632.  Milton, L’Allegro, 81. Hard by a Cottage chimney smokes From betwixt two aged okes.

42 1673.  Ray, Journ. Low C., 56. A multitude of Storks … building upon their Chimnies.

43 1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, 58. Farther on,… they can just see the chimneys of the Hall Farm.

44   5.  a. The funnel that 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.

45 1816.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 5. Furnished with a cover and chimney.

46 1825.  Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 601. They see her [river steamer] lower her chimney to pass beneath the arch.

47 1857.  Encycl. Brit., XIII. 171/1. In some lamps … the same effect is produced by the contraction of the cylindrical glass chimney.

48 1878.  Huxley, Physiogr., 41. The clouds of steam which issue from the chininey of a locomotive engine.

49   6.  transf. a. Applied to a natural vent or opening in the earth’s surface, esp. that of a volcano.

50 c. 1374.  Chaucer, Boeth., I. iv. 12. Þe vnstable mountaigne þat hyȝt Veseuus . þat wircheþ oute þoruȝ hys brokene chemineys smokyng fires.

51 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.

52 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.

53 1887.  C. F. Holder, Living Lights, 13.

54   † b.  A vent for humours or ‘fumosities’ of the body. Obs.

55 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.

56 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.

57 1713.  Derham, Phys.-Theol., V. v. Acute Distempers … arising from a Diminution of Transpiration through the cutaneous Chimneys.

58   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.

59 1876.  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.

60 1880.  Hopkins, in Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 538/1.

61   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.

62 1871.  E. Whymper, Scrambles amongst Alps, 119. I lowered myself through the Chimney, however, by making a fixture of the rope.

63 Mod.  The ‘great Chimney’ of the Pillar Rock in Ennerdale.

64   9.  Mining. An ore-shoot (Raymond, Min. Gloss.)

65   10.  General comb., chiefly attrib.: a. lit., as chimney-fire, -flue, -grate, -ornament, -pier, -smoke, -smutch, -tile, -vault, etc.; chimney-like adj.

66 1794.  G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., I. iv. App. 157. The design of a *chimney-fire being to warm a room.

67 1763.  Ferguson, in Phil. Trans., LIII. 171. The straight bars of a *chimney-grate.

68 1862.  Ansted, Channel Isl., I. v. (ed. 2), 113. At Moye Point are two *chimney-like holes.

69 1823.  J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 196. Elegant and cheap *chimney ornaments.

70 1879.  Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit., I. 298. There are remnants of simple but well-designed *chimney-piers.

71 1872.  E. Peacock, Mabel Heron, I. ii. 16. Far away from furnace-glare and *chimney-smoke.

72 1791.  Cowper, Odyss., XVIII. 34. Like an old hag Collied with *chimney-smutch!

73 1856.  Emerson, Eng. Traits, Race, Wks. (Bohn), II. 29. The pictures on the *chimney-tiles of his nursery.

74 c. 1820.  S. Rogers, Italy, Naples, 124. The ample *chimney-vault is dun with smoke.

75   b.  in sense ‘belonging to the fire-side or chimney-corner, fireside-’ (chiefly depreciatory), as chimney-cavalier, -minstrel, -preacher, -tale, -talk.

76 1602.  2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., III. ii. (Arb.), 41. Sir Raderick keepes no *chimney Cauelere, That takes Tobacco aboue once a yeare.

77 1656.  Trapp, Comm. Rev. vi. 13. Rome’s dunghill deities, together with their chemarims or *chimney-chaplains, the priests.

78 1801.  Wolcott (P. Pindar), Tears & Smiles, Wks. 1812, V. 70. *Chimney-minstrels, crickets call’d.

79 1549.  Bale, in Pref. Cheke’s Hurt Sedition (1641), b. This ungracious violence of these *chimney-Preachers, and bench-Bablers.

80 a. 1683.  Oldham, Wks. & Rem. (1686), 53.        Old Wives, in Superstition over-grown, With *Chimny-Tales, and Stories best are won.

81 1649.  G. Daniel, Trinarch., Rich. II., cccxlvi. But it will out; for Chronicles haue made It Common *Chimney talke.

82 1670.  Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 43–4. Things … that serve for Chimney and Market-talk.

83   11.  Special combs.: † chimney-bacon, smoke-dried bacon; chimney-back, the back of 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-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 rotating chimney-pot or cowl; 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 mantel-piece; 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-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 group of chimney-stalks, united in one block; chimney-stalk, (a.) the part of a chimney that 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, the common swallow, Hirundo rustica; chimney-tax = CHIMNEY-MONEY; chimney-throat, the narrowest part of a chimney, between the gathering and the flue; chimney-tun (dial.) = chimney-stalk.

84 1566.  Drant, Horace’s Sat., II. ii. F v. With better meate … then … *chimnye bacon.

85 1764.  H. T. Croker, etc. Dict. Arts, s.v. Chimney, The mouth of the tube, or that part joined to the *chimney back.

86 1884.  Gardening Illustr., 8 Nov., 426/2. A garden of Bell Worts … might include … the *Chimney Bellflower.

87 1708.  Mrs. Centlivre, Busie Body, IV. iv. 64. Can you condescend to stand behind this *Chimney-Board, Sir George?

88 1796.  Jane Austen, Sense & Sens., xxxviii. She never made any bones of hiding … behind a chimney-board, on purpose to hear what we said.

89 1843.  Lever, J. Hinton, iii. 10. A mirror of gigantic proportions occupied the *chimney-breast.

90 1824.  Ann. Reg., 140/1. Edinburgh.—A strong gale … came on from the north-east, and the usual demolition of *chimney-cans, slates, &c. ensued.

91 1851.  D. Wilson, Preh. Ann. (1863), II. 127. A remarkable class of urns … described in the old Statistical Reports as resembling chimney-cans.

92 1772.  Acc., in Tomlinson, Doncaster (1887), 237. Mr. Allen the *Chimney Doctor, for two chimneys.

93 1809.  R. Langford, Introd. Trade, 81. A *Chimney Glass and a pair of Sconces.

94 1839.  Dickens, Nich. Nick., xxxii. Sticking the card in the chimney-glass.

95 1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. IV. iv. (L.). As great Sol scatters his first fire-handful, tipping the hills and *chimney-heads with gold.

96 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. Ibid., *Chimney-jambs. The sides of a Chimney … on the Extremities of which the Mantle-tree resteth.

97 1785.  Burns, Ep. to Davie, i. While frosty winds blaw in the drift, Ben to the *chimla lug.

98 a. 1695.  Wood, Life (1848), 201. The King’s revenue in customs, excise, and *chimney men.

99 1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. xi. 36. Nor could the Treasury effectually restrain the chimneyman from using his powers with harshness: for the tax was farmed.

100 1663.  Gerbier, Counsel, 22. The *Chimney-mantles ought to be all of Stone or Marble.

101 1637.  B. Jonson, Sad Sheph., I. ii. Alken. Where saw you her? Scath. In the *chimney-nuik within.

102 1788.  Burns, Friar’s-Carse Hermitage (2nd version). Seek the chimney-nook of ease.

103 1816.  Scott, Old Mort., vii. ‘Ilka auld wife in the chimley-neuck.’

104 1671.  Butler, Rem., In mem. Duval, vi. Th’ Excise and *Chimney-Publican.

105 1662.  Gerbier, Princ., 9. Exorbitant *Chimney-Shafts.

106 1879.  Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit., I. 265. With the fireplace came that other modern feature, the chimney-shaft.

107 1552.  Huloet, *Chymney shanke, or tonel, fumarij.

108 1732.  Swift, Sacr. Test. (J.). Low offices, as some nearer neighbours hardly think it worth stirring from their *chimney-sides to obtain.

109 1824.  Scott, Lett., 18 Feb., in Lockhart. An accurate sketch of the windows and chimney sides of the drawing room.

110 1841–4.  Emerson, Ess. Heroism, Wks. (Bohn), I. 104. The nook and chimney-side of prudence.

111 1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, lxiv. Roof and *chimney-stack seemed drunk.

112 1862.  Lytton, Str. Story, 8. Abrupt gables and lofty chimney-stacks.

113 1828.  Scott, Tapestried Chamber. Ancient wreathed and carved *chimney-stalks.

114 1866.  Athenæum, No. 2009. 566/2. Two enormous chimney-stalks.

115 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.

116 1652.  Gaule, Magastrom., 181. The crickets chirping behind the chimney stock.

117 1775.  White, in Phil. Trans., LXV. 258. The house-swallow, or *chimney-swallow, is … the first comer of all the British hirundines.

118 1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 37. An Act by which the *chimney tax was declared a badge of slavery.

119 1800.  Hurdis, Fav. Village, 165. Perch’d on the brink of *chimney-throat profound!

120 1869.  E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 371. The chimney throat was contracted so as to lessen the draught.

121 1600.  Inscr. on Porch at Beaupré, Glamorgansh. (N. & Q. (1871), 2 Sept.). Rycharde Basset … Bwylt This Porch With The *Chymnye Tunnes.

122 1879.  Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 148. On the great ‘chimney-tuns’ as country folk call them, and in the ivy, tribes of birds have taken up their residence.

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