chamber
See also: Chamber
English
Alternative forms
- chambre (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English chambre, borrowed from Old French chambre, from Latin camera, from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “vaulted chamber”). Doublet of camera.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtʃeɪmbə(ɹ)/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃeɪmbɚ/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪmbə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: cham‧ber
Noun
chamber (plural chambers)
- A room or set of rooms, particularly:
- The private room of an individual, especially of someone wealthy or noble.
- 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review[1], volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC, page 143:
- Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, / Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, / While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, / As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
- A bedroom.
- The private office of a judge.
- The room used for deliberation by a legislature.
- (UK) A single law office in a building housing several.
- (dated, usually in the plural) Rooms in a lodging house.
- 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Which Had Very Nearly Been the Last of the Story”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 120:
- A committee of marriageable ladies, or of any Christian persons interested in the propagation of the domestic virtues, should employ a Cruikshank or a Leech, or some other kindly expositor of the follies of the day, to make a series of designs representing the horrors of a bachelor's life in chambers, and leading the beholder to think of better things, and a more wholesome condition.
- The private room of an individual, especially of someone wealthy or noble.
- (obsolete) Ellipsis of chamber pot: a container used for urination and defecation in one's chambers.
- 1946, Elizabeth Metzger Howard, Before the Sun Goes Down, page 31:
- "Jesus Christ! Was my folks refined. My mam she wouldn't think-a lettin' us young'uns call a pee pot a pee pot. A chamber's what she called it... And by God! Us young'uns had ter call the pee pot a chamber or git our God damn necks wrang."
- (figuratively) The legislature or division of the legislature itself.
- The resolution, which speedily passed the Senate, was unable to gain a majority in the lower chamber.
- Any enclosed space occupying or similar to a room.
- A canal lock chamber; a furnace chamber; a test chamber
- (biology) An enlarged space in an underground tunnel of a burrowing animal.
- (firearms) The area holding the ammunition round at the initiation of its discharge.
- Dianne loaded a cartridge into the chamber of the rifle, then prepared to take aim at the target.
- (firearms) One of the bullet-holding compartments in the cylinder of a revolver.
- (historical) A short piece of ordnance or cannon which stood on its breech without any carriage, formerly used chiefly for celebrations and theatrical cannonades.
- One of the two atria or two ventricles of the heart.
Synonyms
- (chamber pot): See Thesaurus:chamber pot
Derived terms
- air chamber
- antechamber
- anterior chamber
- barochamber
- bedchamber
- biochamber
- black chamber
- blue chamber
- bridechamber
- brood chamber
- bubble chamber
- burial chamber
- chamber candlestick
- chamber composer
- chamber ensemble
- chamberesque
- chamber foreign
- chamberful
- chamber gate
- chamber horse
- chamberlain
- chamber lamp
- chamberlet
- chamberlike
- chamber lye
- chambermaid
- chambermate
- chamber music
- chamber of commerce
- chamber of horrors
- chamber opera
- chamber orchestra
- chamber organ
- chamber play
- chamber pop
- chamber pot
- chamberstick
- chamberware
- chamberwoman
- chamber-work
- cloud chamber
- combustion chamber
- cryochamber
- death chamber
- decompression chamber
- dumb chamber
- echo chamber
- enchamber
- gas chamber
- guestchamber
- hemichamber
- hyperbaric chamber
- hyperbaric oxygen chamber
- in chambers
- interchamber
- intrachamber
- lead chamber process
- lethal chamber
- living chamber
- lockchamber
- lower chamber
- macrochamber
- magma chamber
- microchamber
- multichamber
- outchamber
- phytochamber
- plenum chamber
- posterior chamber
- prechamber
- presence chamber
- rain chamber
- rechamber
- red chamber
- resonating chamber
- sole chamber
- star chamber
- subchamber
- Torricellian chamber
- torture chamber
- unchamber
- underchamber
- upper chamber
- Ussing chamber
- waterchamber
- widow's chamber
- Wilson chamber
- wire chamber
- yeoman of the chamber
Translations
room or set of rooms
|
individual's private room
|
bedroom
|
room used for deliberation by a legislature
single law office in a building housing several
rooms in a lodging house
chamber pot — see chamber pot
legislative body
|
enclosed space similar to a room
|
part of a firearm holding the round before firing
|
compartment holding a bullet of a revolver
|
historical: short piece of ordnance for celebrations etc.
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Verb
chamber (third-person singular simple present chambers, present participle chambering, simple past and past participle chambered)
- (transitive) To enclose in a room.
- She had chambered herself in her room, and wouldn't come out.
- To reside in or occupy a chamber or chambers.
- 1893, Publications of the Scottish History Society, volume 14, page 64:
- I chambered with Alexander Preston.
- (transitive) To place in a chamber, as a round of ammunition.
- The hunter fired at the geese and missed, then shrugged his shoulders and chambered another cartridge.
- (transitive) To create or modify a gun to be a specific caliber.
- The rifle was originally chambered for 9mm, but had since been modified for a larger, wildcat caliber.
- (martial arts, transitive) To prepare an offensive, defensive, or counteroffensive action by drawing a limb or weapon to a position where it may be charged with kinetic energy.
- Bob chambered his fist for a blow, but Sheila struck first.
- (obsolete) To be lascivious.
- (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
Synonyms
- (to be lascivious): blissom, lust; see also Thesaurus:harlotize
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English doublets
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪmbə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/eɪmbə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- British English
- English dated terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English ellipses
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Biology
- en:Firearms
- English terms with historical senses
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Martial arts
- en:Collectives
- en:Containers
- en:Rooms
- en:Gun mechanisms