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• Chinook
  Chinook

  noun

  a member of a formerly numerous North American Indian people originally inhabiting the northern shore of the mouth of the Columbia River and the adjacent territory.
• chinook
  chinook

  noun

  a warm dry southwesterly wind blowing down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains

Chinook

American  

[shi-nook, -nook, chi-] / ʃɪˈnʊk, -ˈnuk, tʃɪ- /

noun

• Chinooks,
  plural
• Chinook
  plural

1. a member of a formerly numerous North American Indian people originally inhabiting the northern shore of the mouth of the Columbia River and the adjacent territory.

2. either of the two languages of the Chinook Indians.

3. (lowercase) a warm, dry wind that blows at intervals down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

4. (lowercase) chinook salmon.

5. a U.S. Army cargo helicopter in service since 1962 and capable of ferrying 12 tons of supplies and troops.

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chinook ¹ British  

/ tʃɪˈnuːk, -ˈnʊk /

noun

1. Also called: snow eater. a warm dry southwesterly wind blowing down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains

2. Also called: wet chinook. a warm moist wind blowing onto the Washington and Oregon coasts from the sea

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Chinook ² British  

/ tʃɪˈnuːk, -ˈnʊk /

noun

1. a Native American people of the Pacific coast near the Columbia River

2. the language of this people, probably forming a separate branch of the Penutian phylum

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chinook Scientific  

/ shĭ-nk′,chĭ- /

1. A moist, warm wind blowing from the sea in coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest.

2. A warm, dry wind descending from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, causing a rapid rise in temperature. These winds often melt snow quite rapidly, at times at a rate of up to a foot per hour.

3. See also foehn

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Chinook
  plural
• Chinooks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of chinook

C19: from Salish c`inuk

Explanation

A chinook is a very big fish, a type of salmon that's found in the Pacific Ocean. Chinooks are also known as "king salmon." In addition to the giant salmon that's commonly fished from Alaska to California, the word chinook is also used for a particular type of wind. This meteorological chinook is a warm, dry wind that blows down from a mountain range during the end of the winter season. Both types of chinook are named for the Chinook people, a Pacific Northwest indigenous group.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Chinook chinook Chinooks

One finance pro compared the sound to a Chinook military transport helicopter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

As the state has relied heavily on its water, native fish such as Chinook salmon, steelhead trout and longfin smelt have declined.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

They have been counting heavily on aerial assistance to bring the situation under control, with two water-bombing aircraft from Sweden and two Dutch military Chinook helicopters backing up two Belgian helicopters on site.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

Clavreul said he had asked the government to deploy a Chinook water-bombing helicopter that has been sent by Australia to help with France's wildfire crisis.

From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026

He cut his teeth on Montana match races, relays on unpedigreed horses in Indian country, and contests at rough tracks with names like Chinook and Stampede.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

Each summer in July, Greenberg helps organize an annual snorkel survey in which dozens of volunteers swim along the river and count the number of spring-run chinook salmon, as well as summer steelhead.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2024

Scientists with Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Klamath Tribes have developed a plan to release hatchery-raised spring-run chinook in Oregon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2024

This year, the Park fire, which burned through Mill and Deer creeks in the Central Valley, has threatened what Martin called some of last strongholds for endangered spring-run chinook salmon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2024

The team, part of the Karuk tribe’s fisheries program, was searching for juvenile chinook and coho salmon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2024

He and Harry Secor had worked together to stalk the giant chinook salmon of the Dungeness River.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

A subsequent review by Lord Philip set out "numerous concerns" raised by those who worked on the Chinooks.

From BBC ● May 25, 2025

For example, the maps highlight a hotspot for Chinooks gathering in the Bering Sea.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 16, 2024

At the time, military leaders said they expected to need fewer Chinooks, which haul tanks and other heavy equipment into battle zones, like those used in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 12, 2024

Wayne Coulson, chief executive of Coulson Aviation, said the Chinooks are the industry’s most powerful CH-47 firefighting helicopters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2023

The practice is universal among the Killimucks, Clatsops, Chinooks, and Cathlamahs,—the four nations with whom we have had most intercourse.

From Oregon and Eldorado or, Romance of the Rivers by Thomas Bulfinch

Related Words

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