chute

[shoot]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR chute ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an inclined channel, as a trough, tube, or shaft, for conveying water, grain, coal, etc., to a lower level.

a waterfall or steep descent, as in a river.

a water slide, as at an amusement park.

a steep slope, as for tobogganing.

verb (used with object), chut·ed, chut·ing.

to move or deposit, by or as if by means of a chute: The dock had facilities for chuting grain directly into the hold of a vessel.

verb (used without object), chut·ed, chut·ing.

to descend by or as if by means of a chute.

Idioms

out of the chute, at the start; at the very beginning: The new business made mistakes right out of the chute and failed within a year.

Origin of chute

1715–25; < French, Middle French, representing Old French cheoite a fall, nominalized feminine past participle of cheoir to fall (< Vulgar Latin *cadēre, for Latin cadere; cf. cadence, case¹), with vowel of Middle French chue, Old French cheue, a variant past participle; some senses influenced by shoot¹

chute

[shoot]

noun

a parachute.

verb (used without object), chut·ed, chut·ing.

to descend from the air by or as if by a parachute.

verb (used with object), chut·ed, chut·ing.

to drop from an aircraft by means of a parachute: Supplies were chuted to the snowbound mountain climbers.

Origin of chute

An Americanism dating back to 1915–20; by shortening

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for chute

gutter, incline, runway, course, slide, rapid, trough, fall, channel

Examples from the Web for chute

Contemporary Examples of chute

Lane rose, but then he motioned to the chute, where the other cowboys were sitting astride the fences.
The Death of a Rodeo Cowboy
Peter Richmond
May 11, 2014
Some get hurt in the chute, which fits the bull like a coffin.
The Death of a Rodeo Cowboy
Peter Richmond
May 11, 2014
Say what you will about the Israelis, but they are not slow out of the chute.
Kinky for Perry
Kinky Friedman
August 24, 2011

Historical Examples of chute

Even if you're already dead, pull the ripcord ring of your chute!
Lords of the Stratosphere
Arthur J. Burks
It stops, in its turn, before a chute of smooth granite in the form of a bowl.
The Trimming of Goosie
James Hopper
I'll get ya the plane and chute if y'll put up a deposit to cover the cost.
Disowned
Victor Endersby
As the door swung open, he threw the 'chute out toward the ground.
The Great Drought
Sterner St. Paul Meek
This chute, Fuller had said, led to the outside at the back of the reduction plant.
Vulcan's Workshop
Harl Vincent

British Dictionary definitions for chute

chute

noun

an inclined channel or vertical passage down which water, parcels, coal, etc, may be dropped

a steep slope, used as a slide as for toboggans

a slide into a swimming pool

a narrow passageway through which animals file for branding, spraying, etc

a rapid or waterfall

Word Origin for chute

C19: from Old French cheoite, feminine past participle of cheoir to fall, from Latin cadere; in some senses, a variant spelling of shoot

chute

noun, verb

informal short for parachute

Derived Formschutist, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for chute

n.1

1725, American English, "fall of water" (earlier shoot, 1610s), from French chute "fall," from Old French cheoite "a fall," fem. past participle of cheoir "to fall," from Latin cadere (see case (n.1)). Meaning "inclined tube, trough" is from 1804; that of "narrow passage for cattle, etc." first recorded 1881. In North America, absorbing some senses of similar-sounding shoot (n.1).

n.2

short for parachute (n.), attested from 1920.