stovepipe

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a metal pipe that carries smoke and gases from a stove to a chimney or flue

   Smoke leaked from a loose joint in the stovepipe.

2. 2
   noun

   a tall cylindrical top hat resembling a stove's chimney pipe

   A lanky man in a white fur stovepipe hat marked the ground with his cane.

3. 3
   adj

   tall, narrow, and cylindrical like a stovepipe

   The vessel had a stovepipe funnel rising above its deck.

4. 4
   noun

   an isolated channel that prevents information from being shared across groups or systems

   The reorganization replaced each departmental stovepipe with a shared database.

A compound of stove + pipe. The literal chimney pipe inspired names for similarly tall cylindrical objects, including the stovepipe hat, and later the metaphor of an organizational channel isolated from neighboring systems.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images