chimney

American  

[chim-nee] / ˈtʃɪm ni /

noun

• chimneys
  plural

1. a structure, usually vertical, containing a passage or flue by which the smoke, gases, etc., of a fire or furnace are carried off and by means of which a draft is created.

2. the part of such a structure that rises above a roof.

3. Now Rare. the smokestack or funnel of a locomotive, steamship, etc.

4. a tube, usually of glass, surrounding the flame of a lamp to promote combustion and keep the flame steady.

5. Geology.

   1. the vent of a volcano.

   2. a narrow vertical fissure between two rock faces or in a rock formation.

6. Mining. a nearly vertical cylindrical oreshoot.

7. British Dialect. fireplace.

---

verb (used with object)

chimneyed, chimneying

1. Mountain Climbing. to ascend or descend (a chimney) by repeated bracing of one's feet or back and feet against opposite walls.

verb (used without object)

chimneyed, chimneying

1. Mountain Climbing. to ascend or descend a chimney.

chimney British  

/ ˈtʃɪmnɪ /

noun

1. a vertical structure of brick, masonry, or steel that carries smoke or steam away from a fire, engine, etc

2. another name for flue 1

3. short for chimney stack

4. an open-ended glass tube fitting around the flame of an oil or gas lamp in order to exclude draughts

5. a fireplace, esp an old and large one

6. geology

   1. a cylindrical body of an ore, which is usually oriented vertically

   2. the vent of a volcano

7. mountaineering a vertical fissure large enough for a person's body to enter

8. anything resembling a chimney in shape or function

---

chimney Scientific  

/ chĭm′nē /

1. An elongated opening in a volcano through which magma reaches the Earth's surface.

2. A stack of minerals that have precipitated out of a hydrothermal vent on the floor of a sea or ocean.

3. See more at hydrothermal vent

4. An isolated column of rock along a coastline, formed by the erosion of a sea cliff by waves. Chimneys are smaller than stacks.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• chimneyless
  adjective
• chimneylike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• chimneys
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of chimney

1300–50; Middle English chimenai < Middle French cheminee < Latin ( camera ) camīnāta (room) having a fireplace, equivalent to camīn ( us ) (< Greek kámīnos furnace) + -āta -ate ¹

---

Explanation

A chimney is the long, vertical, tunnel-like opening above a fireplace that provides a safe pathway for smoke — and the occasional Santa. It is also the name of the curvy glass flue in a hurricane lamp. Ever since the use of fire indoors, it has been important to build a chimney to allow the smoke to escape. The word chimney comes ultimately from the Greek kaminos, "furnace," and in 13th-century Old French it became the more familiar looking cheminee, "fire place." As chimney fires became a serious problem, the chimney sweep became an important person, cleaning the soot from chimneys. Oh, and dancing on the rooftops. (Or not.)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chimney chimneys chimneyed chimneying

"They took the lead off my neighbour's side of the chimney, which caused bricks to fall into his attic and the rain to go into his house," she told the BBC.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

An AFP team saw a chimney spewing out black smoke at the site, which in places resembles a black lunar landscape, in March 2025.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

In an interview with David Rosenberg of Rosenberg Research, Gundlach relayed the story of a 100-year-old silver maple at his house in Buffalo, N.Y., that lost a giant limb, nearly hitting the chimney.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

An aerial photograph of the site obtained by Reuters news agency appears to show a broken and collapsed chimney.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

The blue cottage with the crooked chimney, the green two-story only half painted.

From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye

It pointed out a school also sits about 700m from the incinerator's chimneys.

From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026

Steam rises from chimneys, from warm patches of river, from mouths.

From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026

His sculptures, composed of stacked forms and glazed in natural colors, bring to mind chimneys, duct work and totem poles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026

She added: "The plant's chimneys are still standing, and so are we."

From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026

Ernest did, and he saw the thick black smoke pouring from the chimneys.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

He started at Bunnahabhain in 1978, when the 36 distillery workers all lived in the quaint, chimneyed houses clustered around the distillery.

From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2018

On Ghika's canvas, Paris' chimneyed rooftops, the jackstraw confusion of a Greek hillside town become strict, disciplined designs blocked in with arbitrary colors.

From Time Magazine Archive

By night a ridged and chimneyed blackness bestrewed with lights rewards the curious gazer from the deck of a Sound steamboat.

From Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast by Samuel Adams Drake

O who would stay in the chimneyed town Where brooks are never seen?

From Songs of Womanhood by Laurence Alma-Tadema

The old red-brick, heavily chimneyed, and gabled buildings, with their large windows divided by bold mullions and transoms, and their simple noble outlines, are familiar to us all, and so are their characteristic features.

From Architecture Gothic and Renaissance by T. Roger (Thomas Roger) Smith

For the next four hours, All wormed and squirmed his way toward the surface, wedging himself between the walls, chimneying diagonally toward the surface.

From The Guardian ● May 16, 2019

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• fireplace
• flue
• furnace
• hearth
• pipe
• stack
• vent

---