Chambers


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cham·ber

 (chām′bər)
n.
1. A room in a house, especially a bedroom.
2. A room where a person of authority, rank, or importance receives visitors.
3. chambers The private office where the judge consults with parties and conducts business not required to be brought in open court.
4. chambers Chiefly British A suite of rooms, especially one used by lawyers.
5. A hall for the meetings of a legislative or other assembly.
6. A legislative or judicial body.
7. A board or council.
8. A place where municipal or state funds are received and held; a treasury.
9.
a. An enclosed space or compartment: the chamber of a pump; a compression chamber.
b. An enclosed space in the body of an organism; a cavity: the four chambers of the heart.
10.
a. A compartment in a firearm, as in the breech of a rifle or the cylinder of a revolver, that holds the cartridge in readiness for firing.
b. An enclosed space in the bore of a gun that holds the charge.
tr.v. cham·bered, cham·ber·ing, cham·bers
1. To put (a round) in the chamber of a firearm.
2. To design or manufacture (a firearm) to hold a specific type of cartridge.
3. To furnish with a chamber or chambers: tombs that were chambered.

[Middle English chaumbre, from Old French chambre, from Late Latin camera, chamber, from Latin, vault, from Greek kamarā.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

chambers

(ˈtʃeɪmbəz)
pl n
1. (Law) a judge's room for hearing cases not taken in open court
2. (Law) (in England) the set of rooms occupied by barristers where clients are interviewed (in London, mostly in the Inns of Court)
3. archaic Brit a suite of rooms; apartments
4. (Law) (in the US) the private office of a judge
5. (Law) in chambers law
a. in the privacy of a judge's chambers
b. in a court not open to the public. Former name for sense 5: in camera
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.Chambers - English architect (1723-1796)
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
This history must henceforth accommodate itself to the change which Roxana has consummated, and call the real heir "Chambers" and the usurping little slave, "Thomas `a Becket"--shortening this latter name to "Tom," for daily use, as the people about him did.
At a low level we came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we saw many Mahars engaged in various occupations.
"There be within this vast network of winding passages and countless chambers men, women, and beasts who, born within its dim and gruesome underworld, have never seen the light of day--nor ever shall.
"I fear not so much opposition ahead, for there are none there who know the thing that has been done in Luud's chambers this night; but the kaldane of one of the warriors who stood guard before Luud's apartment escaped, and you may count it a truth that he lost no time in seeking aid.
The resounding echoes of that fearsome cry were still reverberating through the subterranean chambers when I saw the thing that had startled it from the faithful beast.
To experiment with my new-found toy I thought to surprise him into revealing this combination and so I asked him in a casual manner how he had managed to unlock the massive doors for me from the inner chambers of the building.
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.
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.
This is what passed in the chamber of the victim while we were waiting below.
Just let twelve spinning-wheels be brought into the ante- chamber, and they will go to them and be pleased with them, and that is what no man would do.' The king liked the advice, and had the spinning-wheels placed in the ante-chamber.
It was quite dark before La, the high priestess, returned to the Chamber of the Dead with food and drink for Tarzan.
After ascending and descending several steps in the corridors, which were so dark that they were lighted by lamps at mid-day, La Esmeralda, still surrounded by her lugubrious escort, was thrust by the police into a gloomy chamber. This chamber, circular in form, occupied the ground floor of one of those great towers, which, even in our own century, still pierce through the layer of modern edifices with which modern Paris has covered ancient Paris.