# chimney

Pronunciation: say "CHIM-nee" /ˈt͡ʃɪmni/

## Noun

1. A vertical pipe or hollow column through which polluting smoke, gases and solid particles, such as the by-products of burning fuel, are let out; a flue.
   - Simple: A tall pipe that carries smoke from a fire or furnace up and out into the air.
   - _We had the chimney swept before lighting the first fire of the winter._
   - _Tall chimneys towered over the steelworks, pouring soot into the sky._
2. A narrow cleft in a rock face, or a narrow passage that runs vertically through a cave.
   - Simple: A narrow gap in a wall of rock, or a narrow passage that goes straight up or down in a cave.
   - _The route follows a deep chimney that splits the cliff for sixty feet._
   - _Beyond the flooded chamber, a tight chimney leads up into a second, drier cave._
3. In an oil lamp, the glass tube that encloses the flame and acts as a flue.
   - Simple: The glass cover that fits around the flame in an oil lamp.
   - _He lifted the chimney off the oil lamp and trimmed the wick._
   - _With its chimney cracked, the kerosene lamp flickered and smoked all evening._
4. The stack on a steam locomotive through which smoke is carried away. *(British)*
   - Simple: The tall pipe on top of a steam train engine that lets out smoke.
   - _Sparks flew from the locomotive's chimney as it laboured up the bank._
   - _Volunteers at the heritage railway repainted the chimney of the old tank engine._
6. A black eye, the dark bruise around an eye left by a blow. *(slang, Northern Ireland)*
   - Simple: A dark, bruised eye that you get after being hit.
   - _He turned up at the pub on Saturday sporting a right chimney._
   - _Say that again and I'll give you a chimney to go with your fat lip._
7. A vulgar euphemism for the vagina.
   - Simple: A rude slang word for the vagina.

## Verb

5. To make one's way through a chimney, a narrow vertical cave passage, by pushing against its sides with the back, feet, hands and other parts of the body.
   - Simple: To climb a narrow gap in a cave or rock by pushing your back, feet and hands against the sides.
   - _The only way out of the shaft was to chimney up its last thirty feet._
   - _He chimneyed down the crack, back pressed to one wall and boots braced against the other._

## Origin

From Middle English chymeney, from Old French cheminee, from Late Latin camīnāta, from Latin camīnus, from Ancient Greek kámīnos ("furnace"). It is a doublet of chimenea.

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