What is "chamber of commerce"

Commerce \Com"merce\, n. Note: (Formerly accented on the second syllable.) [F. commerce, L. commercium; com- + merx, mercis, merchandise. See Merchant.]

1. The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; esp. the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.

   The public becomes powerful in proportion to the opulence and extensive commerce of private men.
   --Hume.

2. Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity.

   Fifteen years of thought, observation, and commerce with the world had made him [Bunyan] wiser.
   --Macaulay.

3. Sexual intercourse.
   --W. Montagu.

4. A round game at cards, in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade.
   --Hoyle.

   Chamber of commerce. See Chamber.

   Syn: Trade; traffic; dealings; intercourse; interchange; communion; communication.

Chamber \Cham"ber\, n. [F. chambre, fr. L. camera vault, arched roof, in LL. chamber, fr. Gr. ? anything with a vaulted roof or arched covering; cf. Skr. kmar to be crooked. Cf. Camber, Camera, Comrade.]

1. A retired room, esp. an upper room used for sleeping; a bedroom; as, the house had four chambers.

2. pl. Apartments in a lodging house. ``A bachelor's life in chambers.''
   --Thackeray.

3. A hall, as where a king gives audience, or a deliberative body or assembly meets; as, presence chamber; senate chamber.

4. A legislative or judicial body; an assembly; a society or association; as, the Chamber of Deputies; the Chamber of Commerce.

5. A compartment or cell; an inclosed space or cavity; as, the chamber of a canal lock; the chamber of a furnace; the chamber of the eye.

6. pl. (Law.) A room or rooms where a lawyer transacts business; a room or rooms where a judge transacts such official business as may be done out of court.

7. A chamber pot. [Colloq.]

8. (Mil.)

   1. That part of the bore of a piece of ordnance which holds the charge, esp. when of different diameter from the rest of the bore; -- formerly, in guns, made smaller than the bore, but now larger, esp. in breech-loading guns.

   2. A cavity in a mine, usually of a cubical form, to contain the powder.

   3. A short piece of ordnance or cannon, which stood on its breech, without any carriage, formerly used chiefly for rejoicings and theatrical cannonades.

      Air chamber. See Air chamber, in the Vocabulary.

      Chamber of commerce, a board or association to protect the interests of commerce, chosen from among the merchants and traders of a city.

      Chamber council, a secret council.
      --Shak.

      Chamber counsel or Chamber counselor, a counselor who gives his opinion in private, or at his chambers, but does not advocate causes in court.

      Chamber fellow, a chamber companion; a roommate; a chum.

      Chamber hangings, tapestry or hangings for a chamber.

      Chamber lye, urine.
      --Shak.

      Chamber music, vocal or instrumental music adapted to performance in a chamber or small apartment or audience room, instead of a theater, concert hall, or church.

      Chamber practice (Law.), the practice of counselors at law, who give their opinions in private, but do not appear in court.

      To sit at chambers, to do business in chambers, as a judge.

n. (context business English) an association of businesses to promote their interests in a community

n. an association of businessmen to protect and promote business interests

Chamber of Commerce is a historic chamber of commerce building located at Rochester in Monroe County, New York. It is a four-story building in the Classical Revival/ Beaux-Arts style designed by Claude Fayette Bragdon and built in 1916. A seven-bay addition to the building was completed in 1925.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The Chamber of Commerce is the national chamber of commerce of Mauritania. It is located in Nouakchott, northwest of Mosque Ould Abas and just south of the Central Bank of Mauritania.

The Chamber of Commerce situated in Douala, Cameroon is a building constructed between 1927 and 1928 under the French mandate, under the umbrella of the League of Nations. This building has art nouveau tardif architectural style.

A chamber of commerce (or board of trade) is a form of business network, for example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community. Local businesses are members, and they elect a board of directors or executive council to set policy for the chamber. The board or council then hires a President, CEO or Executive Director, plus staffing appropriate to size, to run the organization.

The first chamber of commerce was founded in 1599 in Marseille, France. Another official chamber of commerce would follow 65 years later, probably in Bruges, then part of the Spanish Netherlands.

The world's oldest English-speaking chamber of commerce, in New York City, dates from 1768. The oldest known existing chamber in the English-speaking world with continuous records, the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, was founded in 1783. However, Hull Chamber of Commerce is the UK's oldest, followed by those of Leeds and of Belfast in Northern Ireland.

As a non-governmental institution, a chamber of commerce has no direct role in the writing and passage of laws and regulations that affect businesses. It may however, lobby in an attempt to get laws passed that are favorable to businesses. They also work closely with a number of other youth organizations in the country about the value and role of business in our society today.