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

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

But in compensation for that freedom, his chimney anchored the house as firmly to the earth as the most ancient of living trees.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026

"The house wasn't there, it was just bits of bricks and a chimney."

From BBC ● Apr. 4, 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

Every single plan I’d made went scampering over to the fireplace, shot up the chimney, and disappeared into the sky.

From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan

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

From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026

Homeowners would need to keep any branches one foot away from the walls, five feet above the roof and 10 feet from chimneys.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2026

“No, chimneys no longer smoke with the same sincerity as formerly, and hearts have grown weary and wooden in Hungary.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026

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

From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026

I look up at the dark mansion, its thin chimneys a deeper black than the sky.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

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 Drake, Samuel Adams

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

From Songs of Womanhood by Alma-Tadema, Laurence

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 Smith, T. Roger (Thomas Roger)

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