coulee
Americannoun
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Chiefly Western U.S. and Western Canada. a deep ravine or gulch, usually dry, that has been formed by running water.
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a small valley.
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a low-lying area.
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a small intermittent stream.
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Geology. a stream of lava.
noun
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a flow of molten lava
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such lava when solidified
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a dry stream valley, especially a long steep-sided gorge or ravine that once carried melt water from a glacier
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a small intermittent stream in such a ravine
Etymology
Origin of coulee
1800–10, < Canadian French, French: a flowing, noun use of feminine of coulé, past participle of couler to flow < Latin cōlāre to filter, strain, derivative of cōlum strainer, sieve; colander, portcullis
Explanation
A coulee is a gully, stream, or ravine that's full of water. Bring your waterproof boots for the hike — the valley is full of coulees! The meaning of coulee varies regionally. In some places, a coulee is a flowing stream of volcanic lava. In the northwestern U.S. and Canada, it's a kind of trench or trough that fills with rainwater, but in the Midwest people might call any small body of water a coulee. And in Louisiana, it's spelled coulée. The word is North American in origin, from a French root meaning "to flow," and it was first used by 17th-century French trappers and explorers.
Vocabulary lists containing coulee
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After two short miles, arrive at the head of a coulee dotted with three lakes and a small waterfall.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 26, 2017
Figure 15.15 A slump along the banks of a small coulee near Lethbridge, Alberta.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015
The toe of the slump is being eroded by the seasonal stream that created the coulee.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015
But things are also shifting into the modern era, as the coulee region claws out of the Depression and makes way for hydroelectric dams and rattling trucks.
From Seattle Times • May 24, 2012
The children gathered up empty lard pails to collect the greens in and headed off to the coulee.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
