chimney piece

American  

noun

1. Chiefly British. mantlepiece.

2. Obsolete. a decoration over a fireplace.

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Etymology

Origin of chimney piece

First recorded in 1605–15

Example Sentences

Replacing an existing mantel or chimney piece, or adding one where there was previously none, can immediately change the character of a fireplace.

From Seattle Times

Downstairs, amid the stained glass, oak paneling and carved stone chimney piece of a Gothic-style sitting room, was a tangerine foot about the size of a small car.

From New York Times

Somebody inside the chimney piece said, “Shh!”

From Literature

Sitting in the Great Hall of Cliveden House, we took in the ornate oak paneling, Belgian wall tapestries and the 16th-century stone chimney piece, sheltering a roaring fire.

From New York Times

“Conversion,” he wrote to Edward Sackville-West, “is like stepping across the chimney piece out of a Looking-Glass world, where everything is an absurd caricature, into the real world God made.”

From Slate