chimney's afire

phrase

A phrase shouted when blood gushes out of a whale's blowhole after a killing blow is struck with a lance

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Meanings

phrase
  1. nauticalA phrase shouted when blood gushes out of a whale's blowhole after a killing blow is struck with a lance

    Success would show itself as a geyser of crimson blood gushing from the whale’s blowhole, which caused whalemen to cry out, ‘Chimney’s afire!’

    2015 December 29, Nathaniel Philbrick, “How Nantucket Came to Be the Whaling Capital of the World”, in Smithsonian Magazine
Cite this entry
APA

chimney's afire. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chimney's%20afire

MLA

“chimney's afire.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chimney's%20afire. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chimney's afire,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chimney's%20afire.

Source: chimney's afire on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.