Also spelled stove-pipe
Meanings
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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.
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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.
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3
adj
tall, narrow, and cylindrical like a stovepipe
The vessel had a stovepipe funnel rising above its deck.
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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.
Thesaurus
Etymology
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.