Emily Dickinson Lexicon

chamber, adj. [Fr. L. < Gk. arched roof, vault, upper gallery.]

Bedroom; parlor; pertaining to the front room.

chamber (-s), n. [Fr. L. < Gk. arched roof, vault, upper gallery.] (webplay: above, apartment, chase, dwelling, eye, form, hid, house, lodging, meets, occupies, place, roof, room, safe, secret, secured, sleeps, southern).

1. Closet; royal apartment; sleeping quarters for a monarch; [fig.] mausoleum; funeral vault.
2. Interior; concave space; [fig.] corol; corolla; cup of pollen; container of nectar; cavity within the petals of a flower.
3. Receptacle; cup; [fig.] grave; tomb; burial place.
4. Parlor; viewing room; front room where people observe a wake for a corpse; place full of lights surrounding the body of a deceased loved one; [fig.] mansion; heavenly resting place.
5. Upper room (see Mark 14:14-15); [metonymy] address; domicile; lodging; residence; dwelling place; [fig.] court; palace; door into heaven; entrance into the Kingdom of God.
6. Loft; garret; living area; dwelling place; [fig.] sacred space; upper room; area for worship in a temple (see 1 Kings 6:1-10); [metaphor] sphere of influence; domain of creation; realm of creative activity.
7. Bedroom; personal space in a home; private place assigned to an individual living in a house; Emily's upstairs room in the southwest corner of the Dickinson homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts.
8. Abyss; chasm; depth; profundity.

chamois, n. [Fr. < It. camoscia, chamois leather.] (webplay: antelopes).

Shammy; soft fine leather; skin from a goat-like antelope.

chance (-s, -'s), n. [ME chea(u)nce < late L. cadent-, falling; see cadence.] (webplay: bird's, come, escape, event, luck, misfortune, pass, place, possibility, take, time, unknown).

1. Accident; coincidence; fluke; fortuity.
2. Gamble; hazard; risk; possibility of danger or harm.
3. Likeliness; odds; probability; prospect; possibility of a given event occurring.
4. Opportunity; occasion.
5. Randomness; unpredictability.
6. Phrase. “take my Chance with”: risk experiencing.

chance (-d), v. [see chance, n.]

1. Befall; pass; happen to go by.
2. Phrase. “Chance … on”: discover; encounter; come across; happen to find.

chancel, n. [OFr < L. cancelli, bars of lattice-work.]

Sacred space; area around the altar of a church; dressing room for the clergy and choir; lattice-work that encloses a sanctuary in the back of a church building.

change (-s), n. [AFr. < late L. cambi-um, exchange.]

1. Transformation; abandonment of one state for another.
2. Variation; alteration in form; modification of essence; [fig.] death.
3. Exchange; replacement; substitution.

change (-d), v. [ME < L. cambire, barter, exchange.] (webplay: heart, new, passing, sweetness).

1. Abandon; discard; replace; shift; lay aside; leave for another.
2. Alter; transform; become different in appearance; convert to a new state of being.

channel, n. [ME < OFr chanel, old form of canal.]

Passage; conveyance; furrow; means of transmission; lengthened groove on a surface; [fig.] grave.

chant (-s), n. [Fr. 'song' < L. cantu-m, singing, song.]

1. Song; melody; rhythmic tune.
2. Hymn; liturgy; words of a church service in melodic form.