gutter

[guht-er] /ˈgʌt ər/
noun
1.
a channel at the side or in the middle of a road or street, for leading off surface water.
2.
a channel at the eaves or on the roof of a building, for carrying off rain water.
3.
any channel, trough, or the like for carrying off fluid.
4.
a furrow or channel made by running water.
5.
Bowling. a sunken channel on each side of the alley from the line marking the limit of a fair delivery of the ball to the sunken area behind the pins.
6.
the state or abode of those who live in degradation, squalor, etc.:
the language of the gutter.
7.
the white space formed by the inner margins of two facing pages in a bound book, magazine, or newspaper.
verb (used without object)
8.
to flow in streams.
9.
(of a candle) to lose molten wax accumulated in a hollow space around the wick.
10.
(of a lamp or candle flame) to burn low or to be blown so as to be nearly extinguished.
11.
to form gutters, as water does.
verb (used with object)
12.
to make gutters in; channel.
13.
to furnish with a gutter or gutters:
to gutter a new house.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English gutter, goter < Anglo-French goutiere, equivalent to goutte drop (see gout) + -iere, feminine of -ier -er2
Related forms
gutterlike, adjective
Examples from the web for gutter
  • There are two types of gutter systems you can install: aluminum and vinyl.
  • It takes a second, but their minds as much in the gutter as ours are, and it hits home.
  • Set the barrel up next to your gutter and mark where you need to cut to make the downspout flow directly into the inlet hole.
  • They huddle in small groups, cloaks pulled over their heads, in an open gutter.
  • One suggesting that lending a hand to someone in the gutter might be the same as helping a friend.
  • Together they provide a striking testament to how long people have been throwing their garbage into the gutter of this city.
  • Never mind if that gutter is streaming from a cloudburst.
  • Time to finally hold the gutter tabloids accountable for the pollution they produce.
  • Damaged gutter sections should be patched or replaced.
  • Jane would have thought it a descent into the gutter.
British Dictionary definitions for gutter

gutter

/ˈɡʌtə/
noun
1.
a channel along the eaves or on the roof of a building, used to collect and carry away rainwater
2.
a channel running along the kerb or the centre of a road to collect and carry away rainwater
3.
a trench running beside a canal lined with clay puddle
4.
either of the two channels running parallel to a tenpin bowling lane
5.
(printing)
  1. the space between two pages in a forme
  2. the white space between the facing pages of an open book
  3. the space between two columns of type
6.
the space left between stamps on a sheet in order to separate them
7.
(surfing) a dangerous deep channel formed by currents and waves
8.
(Austral) (in gold-mining) the channel of a former watercourse that is now a vein of gold
9.
the gutter, a poverty-stricken, degraded, or criminal environment
verb
10.
(transitive) to make gutters in
11.
(intransitive) to flow in a stream or rivulet
12.
(intransitive) (of a candle) to melt away by the wax forming channels and running down in drops
13.
(intransitive) (of a flame) to flicker and be about to go out
Derived Forms
gutter-like, adjective
Word Origin
C13: from Anglo-French goutiere, from Old French goute a drop, from Latin gutta
Word Origin and History for gutter
n.

late 13c., "watercourse, water drainage channel along the side of a street," from Anglo-Norman gotere, from Old French guitere, goutiere (13c., Modern French gouttière) "gutter, spout" (of water), from goute "a drop," from Latin gutta "a drop." Meaning "furrow made by running water" is from 1580s. Meaning "trough under the eaves of a roof to carry off rainwater" is from mid-14c. Figurative sense of "low, profane" is from 1818. In printers' slang, from 1841.

v.

late 14c., "to make or run in channels," from gutter (n.). In reference to candles (1706) it is from the channel that forms on the side as the molten wax flows off. Related: Guttered; guttering.

Slang definitions & phrases for gutter

gutter

noun

A dive in which one lands flat on the water; belly-whopper (1950s+)

Related Terms

have one's mind in the gutter


gutter in the Bible

Heb. tsinnor, (2 Sam. 5:8). This Hebrew word occurs only elsewhere in Ps. 42:7 in the plural, where it is rendered "waterspouts." It denotes some passage through which water passed; a water-course. In Gen. 30:38, 41 the Hebrew word rendered "gutters" is _rahat_, and denotes vessels overflowing with water for cattle (Ex. 2:16); drinking-troughs.

Idioms and Phrases with gutter

gutter

see: in the gutter