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Glite Dictionary
crumbling chimney

crumbling chimney

5.6
The tall brick part of a house that is breaking apart and losing pieces
  • noun
translation icon : chimenea en ruinas
  • The old house was marked by a crumbling chimney that needed urgent repair.

Examples

  • During the storm, debris fell from the crumbling chimney onto the ground below.

  • Wisteria draped the crumbling chimney; trumpet vine and jasmine climbed above the door and under the clapboards.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • They decided to renovate the cottage, starting with the crumbling chimney that had become unsafe.

Surface Forms

crumbling chimney singular
crumbling chimneys plural

Morphology

crumbling + chimney

The meaning 'a chimney that is deteriorating or falling apart' is directly and compositionally derived from the adjective 'crumbling' (gradually breaking apart) modifying 'chimney' (a vertical smoke-venting structure). This is a straightforward adjectival noun phrase following common cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

Crumbling chimney paints a picture of an old chimney whose bricks or stones break and fall away as it gets weak. Because of this image, people use it to describe something that is 'falling apart' or in 'bad condition'.