Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a derog. term for a black person.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Chimney chops, an abusive appellation for a negro.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

(US) unofficial, not genuine, on the basis of popular acceptance; thus chimney-corner law, popular opinion, saloon-bar opinion.

1868		Cong. Globe 39:2 1360: I was not talking of what we call in the West ‘chimney-corner law.’ I was talkin about law such as we find on the statute-book .
1883		Amer. Law Rev. 17 648: ‘Chimney corner law’ reigned.
1903		Annual Report Illinois State Bar Assoc. 124: He got common law and statute law and chimney corner law very much mixed.
1915		DN IV 181: Chimbley corner law [...] Self-made law.
1916		DN IV 321: Chimney corner law [...] The opinions, views, beliefs, etc., of the unskilled as to what is law. ‘Chimney corner law is expounded on the street corners and in the village store.’.
1923		DN V 203: Chimbly corner laws = Customs that have been transmitted from generation to generation until they finally assume the nature of unwritten laws. The same term applies also to unprofessional and usually erroneous interpretations of the statutes.
1927		Ruppenthal Collection n.p.: Chimney corner lawyer – one who is unlearned in law but professes to advise [DARE].
1939		Hall Collection n.p.: Chimley-corner scripture [...] A popular saying or adage supposed by some to be a Biblical text [DARE].
1943		Kentucky State Bar Jrnl 8-9 34: The laughter procured by this action proves the public believes this bit of ‘chimney corner law’.

a cylindrical black silk hat, fashionable during the latter half of the 19C.

1851		Observer (London) 28 July 8/1: Consider what sort of substitute for chimney pot hats we [...] may be expectedly reasonably to consider.
1858		‘A. Pendragon’ Queen of the South 29: These English, in the old country so wedded to custom [...] so persistent in wearing chimney-pot hats.
1864		G.A. Sala Quite Alone I 8: A man’s hat. I mean the chimney-pot.
1864		Mt Alexander Mail (Vic.) 1 June 3/4: An Essay on ‘Bell-toppers.’ — It is of no use to write any more against that marvellous article of dress, the chimney-pot hat, for the power of its transcendent ugliness beats all the artists.
1866		R. Hallam Wadsley Jack 57: At last I troy’d one on which wor a stunner – a regular chimley-pipe.
1871		Border Watch (Mt Gambier, SA) 22 July 3/4: [headline] The Moral Significance of the Chimney-Pot Hat.
1876		M.E. Braddon Dead Men’s Shoes I 290: Is there so much difference between a chimney-pot hat and a wide-awake?
1880		‘Erro’ Squattermania 27: Not one has got a chimney-pot on his head.
1889		B. Mitford Fire Trumpet III 119: The most grotesque article of this out-of-keeping costume was his hat—a reduced ‘chimney-pot’.
1891		H. Lawson ‘The Ballad of Mabel Clare’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 170: O proudly smiled his lordship then— / His chimney-pot he floored.
1898		Boy’s Own Paper 31 Dec. 211: Every variety of native costume from the European ‘chimney-pot’ to the rude felt hat of ordinary wear.
1926		Breton & Bevir Adventures of Mrs. May 15: My grandfather always wore a chimley pot ’at on Sundays.
1940		M. Marples (ref. to mid-late 19C) Public School Slang 96: A boy may no longer refer to his tile or his go-to-meeting roof (=best hat), like the characters in ‘Tom Brown’s Schooldays,’ nor yet to boilers and chimney-pots, like those in ‘The Fifth Form at St Dominic’s’.

1. a clergyman [the black clothing].

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

2. (also chimney sweeper) a nickname for an aperient, known as ‘the black dose’ or ‘black drop’, composed mainly of opium, mixed with vinegar and spices [colour + the fact that it ‘cleans one out’].

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 16: Chimney Sweep, a black draught.
1980		Maledicta IV:2 (Winter) 200: Traditionally gin (mother’s ruin) is the best abortifacient drug, but a chimney-sweeper (black draught), an aperient, may be equally effective.

crazy, eccentric.

1937

[perf. Ella Shields] I’m Not All There 🎵 All the local bookies say I'm up the chimneystack.