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.

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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

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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.

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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

Multiple people were also believed to be unaccounted for at a factory in Yatsushiro city where the tip of a chimney fell down, NHK reported, citing sources.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

Zusha grew up on a dirt road in upstate New York and has worked as a stonemason and a chimney sweep.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

One struck the chimney of a power plant in Auvere, Estonia, while another exploded in the southern Kraslava region of Latvia.

From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026

Among the first remnants of the building to be dismantled is a 'floating' chimney stack still attached to the adjoining block, several storeys above ground.

From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026

If a factory was nearby, he’d explain how you used a plumb line to get the chimney straight and why the windows had been placed a certain way to let in the maximum light.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

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

Because of this the chimneys leaked so badly that half the smoke blew back into the room.

From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

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

Over against the west, a little to the north, the gray heavens were visible—a lightning seemed to run over them—a ghastly red lightning—sharply silhouetting the chimneyed housetops.

From The Nine-Tenths by James Oppenheim

Then came a fine square, chimneyed house with sherry-glass-shaped elm-trees about it.

From Aladdin O'Brien by Gouverneur Morris

But never before had Bobby found, above such a rustic brook, a many chimneyed and gabled house of stone, set in a walled garden and swathed in trees.

From Greyfriars Bobby by Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson

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

Related Words

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