chambered

1. 1
   adjectivein compounds

   Divided into or made up of a series of separate enclosed compartments or spaces.

   Like a honeycomb, divided into many separate cells.

   The chambered nautilus seals off each compartment as it spirals outward.

   The hillside concealed a chambered cairn dating back five thousand years.

   Note

   This adjective comes straight from the noun plus -ed, the way walled or gabled do, so nothing has been put into a chamber: a chambered shell or cairn simply has compartments. It most often works in combination, with a count or quantity in front, as in two-chambered or many-chambered. Keep it apart from the verb's past participle, which reports something done, as when a pistol is chambered for a cartridge.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of chamber.

   She chambered the first cartridge and waited for the signal.

   The pistol was chambered in nine millimeter.

   Note

   Behind this form stands a verb mostly at home in gunnery and combat. A round is chambered when it is loaded, a rifle is chambered in a caliber when it is built to take it, and a kick is chambered when the leg is drawn back ready to strike. These uses are transitive, so the passive comes easily. The sense of residing in a chamber takes no object and forms no passive, and "to be lascivious" is obsolete.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2