couloir
Americannoun
PLURAL
couloirsnoun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Etymology
Origin of couloir
1850–55; < French: literally, colander < Late Latin cōlātōrium strainer, equivalent to Latin cōlā ( re ) to strain, filter + -tōrium -tory 2; 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.
The forecaster, Nick Burks, 37, was backcountry skiing on Gunsight Mountain in the Elkhorn Mountains in northeastern Oregon on March 6 when he triggered an avalanche at the top of a couloir, or crevasse, in the mountain, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center reported.
From New York Times
As of late March, the two remaining deceased climbers were assumed to be buried by additional snowfall and subsequent avalanches near the couloir’s base.
From Seattle Times
On Feb. 19, a group of six climbers were climbing a steep, narrow gully — called a couloir — on the peak near Leavenworth when an avalanche crashed down the mountainside.
From Seattle Times
The terrain on Colchuck’s northeast couloir made the small avalanche deadly.
From Seattle Times
Still, Gyselinck thought back to his winter climb of the northeast couloir seven years ago and remembered a sense of unease.
From Seattle Times
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.
