chamber

[cheym-ber]

noun

1. a room, usually private, in a house or apartment, especially a bedroom.

   She retired to her chamber.

2. a room in a palace or official residence.

3. the meeting hall of a legislative or other assembly.

4. Law.,  chambers,

   1. a place where a judge hears matters not requiring action in open court.

   2. the private office of a judge.

   3. (in England) the quarters or rooms that lawyers use to consult with their clients, especially in the Inns of Court.

5. a legislative, judicial, or other like body.

   the upper or the lower chamber of a legislature.

6. an organization of individuals or companies for a specified purpose.

7. the place where the moneys due a government are received and kept; a treasury or chamberlain's office.

8. (in early New England) any bedroom above the ground floor, generally named for the ground-floor room beneath it.

9. a compartment or enclosed space; cavity.

   a chamber of the heart.

10. (in a canal or the like) the space between any two gates of a lock.

11. a receptacle for one or more cartridges in a firearm, or for a shell in a gun or other cannon.

12. (in a gun) the part of the barrel that receives the charge.

13. chamber pot.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or performing chamber music.

   chamber players.

verb (used with object)

1. to put or enclose in, or as in, a chamber.

2. to provide with a chamber.

chamber

/ ˈtʃeɪmbə /

noun

1. a meeting hall, esp one used for a legislative or judicial assembly

2. a reception room or audience room in an official residence, palace, etc

3. archaic,  a room in a private house, esp a bedroom

4. 1. a legislative, deliberative, judicial, or administrative assembly

   2. any of the houses of a legislature

5. an enclosed space; compartment; cavity

   the smallest chamber in the caves

6. the space between two gates of the locks of a canal, dry dock, etc

7. an enclosure for a cartridge in the cylinder of a revolver or for a shell in the breech of a cannon

8. obsolete,  a place where the money of a government, corporation, etc, was stored; treasury

9. short for chamber pot

10. the freezing room in an abattoir

11. (modifier) of, relating to, or suitable for chamber music

    a chamber concert

verb

1. (tr) to put in or provide with a chamber

Other Word Forms

• underchamber noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of chamber¹

1175–1225; Middle English chambre < Old French < Latin camera, variant of camara vaulted room, vault < Greek kamára

Word History and Origins

Origin of chamber¹

C13: from Old French chambre, from Late Latin camera room, Latin: vault, from Greek kamara

Example Sentences

It has recently seen graffiti and damage to the internal chamber stones.

From BBC

Members of the public have been temporarily banned from walking into the main chamber of the House of Commons after a mobile phone was found hidden there during a security sweep.

From BBC

If Democrats want to retake the chamber, they will need to win all the other Senate seats — which won’t be easy — plus win one back from the other side.

From Salon

At the moment, the House rests on a knife's edge, with Democrats only needing to seize three more seats to flip the chamber in their balance.

From BBC

In an effort to ensure Democrats would not attempt to halt the vote again, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows on Monday ordered the house chamber doors be locked.

From BBC

Related Words

• apartment 
• bedroom 
• box 
• cell 
• cubicle 
• hall 
• room