# stovepipe

> English word · Noun · frequency rank #92,111

## Definitions
1. Sheet-metal tubing used as a chimney for a stove or furnace.
2. A channel for information which is compartmentalized in such a manner that some parties who might be interested in its use or able to make use of it are restricted from accessing it.
3. A stovepipe hat.
4. A type of malfunction affecting breechloading firearms, where a spent cartridge casing fails to eject completely, instead becoming stuck in the firearm's ejection port, usually oriented vertically or nearly so.
5. A trench mortar such as the Stokes mortar.

## Etymology
From stove + pipe. The firearms sense is due to the trapped cartridge case resembling a stovepipe of the stove sense.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/stovepipe