Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CHIM'NEY-COR'NER, n.

1. The corner of a fire-place, or the space between the fire and the sides of the fire-place. In the Northern States of America, fire-places were formerly made six or eight feet wide, or even more, and a stool was placed by the side of the fire, as a seat for children, and this often furnished a comfortable situation for idlers. As fuel has become scarce, our fire-places are contracted, till, in many or most of our dwellings, we have no chimney-corners.
2. In a more enlarged sense, the fire-side, or a place near the fire.