# chambers

Pronunciation: US say "CHAYM-burz" /ˈt͡ʃeɪmbɚz/; UK say "CHAYM-buhz" /ˈt͡ʃeɪmbəz/

## Noun

1. Plural of chamber. — plural of chamber
   - Simple: Plural of chamber. Use this form when talking about more than one chamber.
   - _Cavers mapped a series of limestone chambers beneath the hill._
   - _Each of the engine's chambers fires in a set order._
3. A judge's private office, used for hearings and matters that do not need to be held in open court.
   - Simple: A judge's private office, used for hearings that don't need an open courtroom.
   - _The motion was heard in chambers rather than before the full court._
   - _She reviewed the sealed documents alone in her chambers._
4. The office of one or more barristers in any building; originally, a set of rooms at an Inn of Court used as both an office and a residence. *(British)*
   - Simple: The offices used by lawyers called barristers, often shared by several of them.
   - _He was offered a tenancy at a leading commercial chambers._
   - _The chambers took on three new pupils this year._
5. Ellipsis of the plural of chamber pot; a polite term for the pots formerly kept indoors for urinating and defecating. — Euphemistic form of chamber pot (“a container used for defecation and urination”); also, synonym of potty (“a small (chiefly plastic) pot used by children for defecation and urination when toilet-training”).
   - Simple: A polite word for more than one chamber pot, the pots once kept indoors as toilets.
   - _Before indoor plumbing, servants carried the chambers out at dawn to be emptied._
   - _The nursery's chambers were scrubbed and returned to the beds each night._
6. Areas of sea adjacent to the coast of England and Wales, enclosed by imaginary lines joining headlands, over which the Crown once claimed exclusive jurisdiction, now replaced by the territorial sea. *(British)*
   - Simple: Areas of sea near the coast of England and Wales that the king once claimed full control over.
   - _Captains knew that hostilities within the king's chambers risked the Crown's anger._
   - _The chambers extended only as far as the lines drawn between the headlands._
7. A mid-morning break in the school day at Eton College.
   - Simple: A short rest in the middle of the morning at Eton College.
   - _Lessons resumed once chambers had ended._
   - _She found him chatting in the yard during chambers._

## Verb

2. Third-person singular simple present indicative of chamber. — third-person singular simple present indicative of chamber
   - Simple: The form of chamber used in the present with he, she, it, or a singular noun such as the dog or water.
   - _The marksman chambers a round and steadies his breathing._
   - _This design chambers the cartridge automatically after each shot._

## Noun

8. A suite of rooms in a building that serves as someone's office or apartment. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A set of rooms in a building, used as an office or a home.
   - _The scholar kept his books and his bed in the same cramped chambers._
   - _She received visitors in the front room of her chambers each evening._

## Origin

Formed from "chamber" plus the suffix "-s", which makes plurals of nouns and third-person singular present verb forms.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/chambers (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).