smokestack
Meaning
a tall chimney at a factory, power station, or on a ship, for carrying smoke away.
Structure
Usage
the old factory's brick smokestack dominated the skyline for decades.
regulations require modern power plants to fit their smokestacks with scrubbers to reduce emissions.
thick, black smoke poured from the ship's smokestack as it left the harbor.
Etymology
the word 'smokestack' is a transparent compound formed in english during the industrial revolution. it combines the old english word 'smoke', referring to the visible gaseous product of combustion, with the old norse-derived word 'stack', which originally meant a pile or heap, such as of hay, and later came to denote a tall chimney or vertical pipe. the term literally describes a chimney or structure built to carry away and disperse a 'stack' or column of smoke. its creation reflects the need for a specific term to describe the prominent, tall chimneys that became symbolic of industrial plants and steamships in the 19th century.
Analysis
smoke (old english 'smoca', meaning 'fumes, visible vapor') + stack (old norse 'stakkr', meaning 'haystack, pile')