flume

American  

[floom] / flum /

noun

1. a deep narrow passage or mountain ravine with a stream flowing through it, often with great force.

   Hikers are warned to stay well clear of the flumes, especially during the spring thaw.

2. an artificial channel or trough for conducting water, as one used to transport logs or provide water power.

3. an amusement park ride in which passengers are carried in a boatlike or loglike conveyance through a narrow, water-filled chute or over a water slide.

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verb (used with object)

flumed, fluming

1. to transport in a flume.

2. to divert (a stream) by a flume.

flume British  

/ fluːm /

noun

1. a ravine through which a stream flows

2. a narrow artificial channel made for providing water for power, floating logs, etc

3. a slide in the form of a long and winding tube with a stream of water running through it that descends into a purpose-built pool

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verb

1. (tr) to transport (logs) in a flume

Etymology

Origin of flume

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English flum, from Old French, ultimately from Latin flūmen “river, stream”

Explanation

A flume is a raised channel or chute that has water flowing through it. Flumes are generally used to transport things like logs, or to measure the flow of water. The oldest flumes were built of wood, and were basically liquid conveyer belts that moved lumber and logs in a sawmill along the surface of the water. These flumes were safer than previous methods of transporting wood down steep mountains, such as by horse-drawn carriages. Amusement parks frequently feature rides modeled after these wooden flumes, in which riders sit in boats resembling hollow logs, propelled along a flume by flowing water.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

flume flumed fluming

Dramatic video footage obtained by TMZ shows the boy falling headfirst down the ride’s 50-foot-tall waterfall just behind the flume that he had exited.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

This was a commencement, not a log flume.

From Slate ● May 27, 2025

A log flume boat that spent most of its life at the Alton Towers theme park has been found washed up on the banks of a Sheffield river.

From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2024

Following the success of Pirates of the Caribbean, Nunis wanted a log flume attraction that would serve as the next big water ride at Disneyland.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 13, 2023

You’re supposed to wear flip flops if you’re walking from the tide pool to the lazy river, the flume ride, the group inner-tube ride, or the slides.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

Like the Unitarians, they poked for gulls' eggs in the Island's scarred, flumed granite listened to lectures, held seminars and attended services in the little Gosport Meeting House.

From Time Magazine Archive

Unfortunately most of the Fresno grove has been cut and flumed down to the railroad near Madera.

From The Yosemite by John Muir

There they were in use for many years mainly for hauling logs and lumber to and from the mills on the summit, whence it was "flumed" to Carson City.

From The Lake of the Sky Lake Tahoe in the High Sierras of California and Nevada, its History, Indians, Discovery by Frémont, Legendary Lore, Various Namings, Physical Characteristics, Glacial Phenomena, Geology, Single Outlet, Automobile Routes, Historic Towns, Early Mining Excitements, Steamer Ride, Mineral Springs, Mountain and Lake Resorts, Trail and Camping Out Trips, Summer Residences, Fishing, Hunting, Flowers, Birds, Animals, Trees, and Chaparral, with a Full Account of the Tahoe National Forest, the Public Use of the Water of Lake Tahoe and Much Other Interesting Matter by George Wharton James

The water supply was brought from the mountains several miles distant, flumed where necessary, and then conveyed underground in cement pipes made and laid by the Indians under the direction of the padres.

From The Old Franciscan Missions Of California by George Wharton James

The cane is being flumed in with great rapidity, and the factory is working till late at night. 

From The Hawaiian Archipelago by Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy) Bird

Leingang, who had been at Dixson’s lab since 2016, says he had become increasingly suspicious of her findings, in part because she usually collected her fluming data alone.

From Science Magazine ● Aug. 9, 2022

One former colleague became “slowly more suspicious,” especially about the fluming studies, and began to monitor them covertly.

From Science Magazine ● May 6, 2021

Many ditches in California have miles of fluming.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 362, December 9, 1882 by Various

Here the miners found it more economical to purchase water from a fluming company than to pump it from the river.

From The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851-52 by Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe

And he had allowed this costly bit of fluming to lie open to destruction when it was the very key to the situation, so far as the ranchers were concerned!

From Desert Conquest or, Precious Waters by Clarence H. (Clarence Herbert) Rowe