Stär'-chām'ber, n.

n. [So called either from A-S. steóran, styran, to steer, to govern, or from being held in a room at the exchequer where the chests containing certain Jewish contracts and obligations called starrs (from the Heb. shetar, pronounced shtar) were kept. Cf. STARBOARD.]

1. An ancient court of criminal jurisdiction in England, which sat without the intervention of a jury. This court exercised extensive powers during the reigns of Henry VIII. and his successors;—abolished during the reign of Charles I.
2. The open heavens.

This three months did we never house our heads But in you great star-chamber. J. Webster.