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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

Taiwanese fighter jets and two Chinook helicopters carrying giant Taiwan flags flew over the capital ahead of Lai's wide-ranging speech, which also covered housing pressure and the declining population.

From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026

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

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

Biologists expect that with the dams now removed and the Klamath flowing freely, all types of native fish will benefit, including fall-run and spring-run chinook as well as coho salmon, steelhead trout and Pacific lampreys.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2024

This undammed river, a tributary of the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border, is one of the last remaining strongholds of a type of salmon that is increasingly at risk of extinction: spring-run chinook.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2024

California declared the Klamath population of spring-run chinook threatened in 2022.

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

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

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

Chinooks were the aircraft used to evacuate U.S. embassy personnel from Sudan in April.

From Washington Times ● May 11, 2023

In the twelfth chapter of his Wa-Kee-Nah, James C. Strong gives a graphic description of a bridal chase which he once witnessed among the Mountain Chinooks.

From Primitive Love and Love-Stories by Henry Theophilus Finck

Related Words

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