Examples Word Origin
See more synonyms for gutter on Thesaurus.com a channel at the side or in the middle of a road or street, for leading off surface water. a channel at the eaves or on the roof of a building, for carrying off rain water. any channel, trough, or the like for carrying off fluid. a furrow or channel made by running water. Bowling a sunken channel on each side of the alley from the line marking the limit of a fair delivery of the ball to the sunken area behind the pins. the state or abode of those who live in degradation, squalor, etc.: the language of the gutter. the white space formed by the inner margins of two facing pages in a bound book, magazine, or newspaper. Show More
verb (used without object) to flow in streams. (of a candle) to lose molten wax accumulated in a hollow space around the wick. (of a lamp or candle flame) to burn low or to be blown so as to be nearly extinguished. to form gutters, as water does. Show More
to make gutters in; channel. to furnish with a gutter or gutters: to gutter a new house. Show More
Origin of gutter 1250–1300; Middle English gutter, goter <
Anglo-French goutiere, equivalent to
goutte drop (see
gout ) +
-iere, feminine of
-ier -er2 Related forms gut·ter·like , adjective Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words for gutter eaves ,
duct ,
tube ,
dike ,
pipe ,
sewer ,
culvert ,
conduit ,
funnel ,
drain ,
gully ,
spout ,
trench ,
sluice ,
trough ,
moat ,
channel ,
watercourse ,
runnel ,
fosse Examples from the Web for gutter Contemporary Examples of gutter He piles the trash into the can and stands in the gutter , waiting for the light to change.
Speaking with The Tottenville Review, Foy calls his school of writing “gutter opera.”
But all publications seem to go to the gutter when it comes to Lewinsky.
But I reserve the distinction for gutter dwelling and otherwise abhorrent behavior to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Davis begins the film, punched by an aggressor into the gutter and ends it the same way.
Historical Examples of gutter I can throw him in the gutter as easy as I could them young ones, and he knows it.
A dozen times on the way home had Dirk been on the point of consigning it to the gutter .
Why, they might just as well be thrown into the gutter and carried off in the scavenger's cart.
You have begun life at the top of the tree, and you have chosen to fling your chances into the gutter .
They gutter highways, but oftenest let Low Ways gutter them.
British Dictionary definitions for gutter a channel along the eaves or on the roof of a building, used to collect and carry away rainwater a channel running along the kerb or the centre of a road to collect and carry away rainwater a trench running beside a canal lined with clay puddle either of the two channels running parallel to a tenpin bowling lane printing the space between two pages in a forme the white space between the facing pages of an open book the space between two columns of type the space left between stamps on a sheet in order to separate them surfing a dangerous deep channel formed by currents and waves Australian (in gold-mining) the channel of a former watercourse that is now a vein of gold the gutter a poverty-stricken, degraded, or criminal environment Show More
(tr) to make gutters in (intr) to flow in a stream or rivulet (intr) (of a candle) to melt away by the wax forming channels and running down in drops (intr) (of a flame) to flicker and be about to go out Show More
Derived Forms gutter-like , adjective Word Origin for gutter C13: from Anglo-French goutiere, from Old French goute a drop, from Latin gutta
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 gutter n. late 13c., "watercourse, water drainage channel along the side of a street," from Anglo-Norman gotere , from Old French guitere , goutiere (13c., Modern French gouttière ) "gutter, spout" (of water), from goute "a drop," from Latin gutta "a drop." Meaning "furrow made by running water" is from 1580s. Meaning "trough under the eaves of a roof to carry off rainwater" is from mid-14c. Figurative sense of "low, profane" is from 1818. In printers' slang, from 1841.
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v. late 14c., "to make or run in channels," from gutter (n.). In reference to candles (1706) it is from the channel that forms on the side as the molten wax flows off. Related: Guttered ; guttering .
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with gutter The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
