A stovepipe is a tall metal pipe that carries smoke and dangerous gases from a wood-burning stove up through the roof and safely outside. Without a stovepipe, all that smoke would fill the house instead of escaping into the air.

For hundreds of years, before central heating systems became common, families relied on wood stoves and their stovepipes to stay warm through cold winters. The pipe had to be installed carefully: if it leaked or wasn't properly connected, deadly carbon monoxide could seep into the home. Chimney sweeps would clean out the black soot and creosote that built up inside stovepipes, preventing dangerous fires.

The word also describes anything that's shaped like one of these pipes: tall, narrow, and straight. Abraham Lincoln was famous for wearing a stovepipe hat, a formal top hat that made him look even taller than his already impressive six-foot-four frame. In business or government, people talk about stovepipe organizations where information only moves straight up and down within one department, never spreading sideways to other teams. Just like a real stovepipe only lets smoke travel in one direction, a stovepipe organization keeps information flowing in rigid, narrow channels rather than sharing it broadly.