chambers en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈt͡ʃeɪmbɚz/ (General-American)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈt͡ʃeɪmbəz/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (US) audio
Etymology
From chamber + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum and regular plurals of nouns, and the third-person singular simple present indicative forms of verbs).
Meanings
-
(archaic, plural, plural-only) A set of rooms in a building used as an office or a residential apartment.
I am sure he loses pleasanter companions than he can find in his own thoughts, either in his mouldy old office, or his dusty chambers. I mean to give him the same chance every year, whether he likes it or not, for I pity him.
1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 109:He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2:[A]s a rule the chambers were occupied only by Stack, who had been Wilfrid's batman in the war, and had for him one of those sphinx-like habits which wear better than expressed devotions.
1932, John Galsworthy, chapter III, in Flowering Wilderness […], London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 19:Thanks, my lord, for your veniſon, for finer or fatter / Never rang'd in a foreſt, or ſmoak'd in a platter; / […] / I had thoughts, in my chambers, to place it in view, / To be ſhevvn to my friends as a piece of virtu; […]
1765, Oliver Goldsmith, “The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to Lord Clare”, in [Thomas Evans], editor, The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B. […], volume I, London: […] H[enry] Goldney, for Messieurs Rivington, […], published 1780, →OCLC, page 83:So Tyrion [Lannister] hatches one last brilliant scheme in a season full of them, and this one goes exactly as well as all the others, even if it doesn’t look like it at first. He alone takes a meeting with Cersei [Lannister], in her chambers, with the Mountain [Gregor Clegane] ready and waiting to dispatch him.
2017 August 27, Brandon Nowalk, “Game of Thrones Slows Down for the Longest, and Best, Episode of the Season (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 26 Dec 2022:
-
(form-of, plural) plural of chamber
form of chamber
- (broadly, plural, plural-only) Chiefly in in chambers: a judge's private office which is used for hearings that do not need to be held in open court.
-
(UK, broadly, plural, plural-only) Originally, a set of rooms at an Inn of Court used by one or more barristers as an office and residence; now, the office of one or more barristers in any building.
[B]e you mannerly to her, becauſe you are to pretend only to be her Squire, to arm her to her Lavvyers Chambers; but I vvill be impudent and baudy, for ſhe muſt love and marry me.
1676 December 11 (first performance), [William] Wycherley, The Plain-Dealer. A Comedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for James Magnes and Rich[ard] Bentley […], published 1677, →OCLC, Act II, page 32:Nevertheless, these venerable Inns which have the Lamb and Flag and the Winged Horse for their ensigns, have attractions for persons who inhabit them, and a share of the rough comforts and freedom, which men always remember with pleasure. I don't know whether the student of law permits himself the refreshment of enthusiasm, or indulges in poetical reminiscences as he passes by historical chambers, […] but the man of letters can't but love the place which has been inhabited by so many of his brethren, […] old Samuel Johnson rolling through the fog with the Scotch gentleman [James Boswell] at his heels on their way to Dr. [Oliver] Goldsmith's chambers in Brick Court; […]
1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “The Knights of the Temple”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 290:[…] I dismissed my coach at the gate, and tripped it down to my counsel's chambers; for lawyer's fees take up too much of a small disputed jointure to admit any other expenses but mere necessaries.
1712 June 30 (Gregorian calendar), [Thomas Tickell], “THURSDAY, June 20, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 410; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 25:To be well in chambers is melancholy, and lonely and selfish enough; but to be ill in chambers— […] —this, indeed, is a fate so dismal and tragic, that we shall not enlarge upon its horrors, and shall only heartily pity those bachelors in the Temple, who brave it every day.
1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Which Had Nearly Been the Last of the Story”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 120:They rapped violently at the door of his [Samuel Johnson's] chambers in the Temple, till at laſt he appeared in his ſhirt, vvith his little black vvig on the top of his head, inſtead of a nightcap, and a poker in his hand, imagining, probably, that ſome ruffians vvere coming to attack him.
1791, James Boswell, “[1752]”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 134:
-
(euphemistic, form-of, plural, plural-only) Euphemistic form of chamber pot (“a container used for defecation and urination”); also, synonym of potty (“a small (chiefly plastic) pot used by children for defecation and urination when toilet-training”).
form of chamber pot
[W]heres the chamber gone Ive a holy horror of its breaking under me after that old commode […]
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 18: Penelope]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 720:
-
(UK, historical, plural, plural-only) In full king's chambers: parts of the sea next to the coast of England and Wales delimited by imaginary lines connecting headlands, over which the Crown asserted exclusive jurisdiction; these have now been superseded by the concept of the territorial sea.
The exclusive territorial jurisdiction of the British Crown over the enclosed parts of the sea along the coasts of the island of Great Britain, has immemorially extended to those bays called the King's Chambers; i.e. portions of the sea cut off by lines drawn from one promontory to another.
1845, William Whewell, “International Rights of Property”, in The Elements of Morality, including Polity […], volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC, book VI (International Jus. Rights and Obligations between States.), article 1170, page 378:Considerable areas of sea were thus enclosed within the Chambers, particularly on the west coast.
1974, Christopher Lloyd, editor, The Mariner’s Mirror: The Journal of the Society for Nautical Research, volume 60, London: Society for Nautical Research, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 96:[W]e cannot be ſecure, vvhile ſuch huge Fleets of Men of VVar, both Spaniſh, French, Dutch, and Dunkirkeers, ſome of them laden vvith Ammunition, Men, Arms, and Armies, do daily ſail on our Seas, and confront the Kings Chambers; […]
1633 February 8 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “XI. To Sir Arthur Ingram, at York.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, →OCLC, section VI, page 233:
-
(plural, plural-only) A midmorning break at Eton College.
Drury presented himself at Chambers before 11 o'clock school one day with a conspicuous black eye.
1889, Sir H. C. Maxwell Lyte, A History of Eton College, 1440-1884, page 372:
Translations (6)
fi tuomarin toimisto (judge’s private office which is used for hearings that do not need to be held in open court) · fi huoneisto (set of rooms in a building used as an office or a residential apartment) · fi kruunun toimivaltainen merialue (parts of the sea next to the coast of England and Wales delimited by imaginary lines connecting headlands, over which the Crown asserted exclusive jurisdiction) · bg покои (set of rooms in a building used as an office or a residential apartment) · uk поко́ї (set of rooms in a building used as an office or a residential apartment) · fi asianajajan toimisto (originally, a set of rooms at an Inn of Court used by one or more barristers as an office and residence; now, the office of one or more barristers in any building)