gutter
Americannoun
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gutters
plural
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a channel at the side or in the middle of a road or street, for leading off surface water.
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a channel at the eaves or on the roof of a building, for carrying off rainwater.
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any channel, trough, or the like for carrying off fluid.
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a furrow or channel made by running water.
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Bowling. a sunken channel extending along each side of a bowling lane, to catch balls that stray over the edge.
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the state or abode of those who live in degradation, squalor, etc..
the language of the gutter.
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the white space formed by the inner margins of two facing pages in a bound book, magazine, or newspaper.
verb (used without object)
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gutters,
present (3rd person singular)
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guttered,
past participle, past
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guttering
present participle
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to flow in streams.
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(of a candle) to lose molten wax accumulated in a hollow space around the wick.
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(of a lamp or candle flame) to burn low or to be blown so as to be nearly extinguished.
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to form gutters, as water does.
verb (used with object)
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gutters,
present (3rd person singular)
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guttered,
past participle, past
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guttering
present participle
-
to make gutters in; channel.
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to furnish with a gutter or gutters.
to gutter a new house.
noun
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a channel along the eaves or on the roof of a building, used to collect and carry away rainwater
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a channel running along the kerb or the centre of a road to collect and carry away rainwater
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a trench running beside a canal lined with clay puddle
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either of the two channels running parallel to a tenpin bowling lane
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printing
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the space between two pages in a forme
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the white space between the facing pages of an open book
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the space between two columns of type
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the space left between stamps on a sheet in order to separate them
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surfing a dangerous deep channel formed by currents and waves
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(in gold-mining) the channel of a former watercourse that is now a vein of gold
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a poverty-stricken, degraded, or criminal environment
verb
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(tr) to make gutters in
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(intr) to flow in a stream or rivulet
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(intr) (of a candle) to melt away by the wax forming channels and running down in drops
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(intr) (of a flame) to flicker and be about to go out
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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guttersimple
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gutterssimple
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have gutteredperfect
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has gutteredperfect
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am gutteringprogressive
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are gutteringprogressive
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is gutteringprogressive
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have been gutteringperfect progressive
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has been gutteringperfect progressive
Past
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gutteredsimple
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had gutteredperfect
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was gutteringprogressive
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were gutteringprogressive
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had been gutteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gutter
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English gutter, goter, from Old French go(u)tiere, equivalent to goutte “drop” + -iere, feminine of -ier; see origin at gout, -er 2
Explanation
A gutter is a pipe or trough along the edge of a roof that carries rainwater away from a building. Another kind of gutter is the indentation beside a street curb. Water flows through these gutters too, usually into a storm drain. The purpose of the gutters on a roof is to prevent water damage to a structure or flooding around its foundation. A gutter directs the flow of rainwater away from the house, often into a drain or rain barrel. There are other kinds of gutters, too, like the gutters that drain water on the edge of a street and the gutters on the sides of a bowling lane. As a verb, gutter means "to flicker or burn unsteadily," like a candle in the wind.
Vocabulary lists containing gutter
"Dulce et Decorum Est," by Wilfred Owen
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Slam!
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I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005
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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.
See Examples For:
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars,” wrote Oscar Wilde.
From Barron's ● Apr. 6, 2026
Mr Vernon said he landed in a gutter and saw the car passing to his left.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2025
Indeed, everyone in Sennott’s LA throws around “I love yous” and air-kisses like chewing gum wrappers blowing into the gutter.
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2025
He made a big wager on natural gas when prices were in the gutter, and he has funded Comstock’s exploration at a time when its rivals are sticking with Wall Street’s strict capital edicts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
Will dropped to his knees in the gutter, winded badly, but he couldn’t stay there.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
The second adjuster confirmed that the entire roof and gutters had sustained hail damage from the same storm the agent had inspected for.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026
Their leaves can block gutters, causing water damage to your home.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
"There was no flooding of the event venue, only localized occurrences such as leaks" that were caused by broken gutters, the response continued, adding these had already been repaired.
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025
"Rain gutters in winter in Melbourne, that was always going to end badly," he says.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2025
The gutters of the city overflowed with offal and refuse—but the mess found its place in time.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Down a long slope, the Columbia River guttered below.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 21, 2021
In her third round, a ball guttered on the left side for a change.
From New York Times ● Sep. 24, 2021
“Y’know, basic things like in Chicago, the weather gets cold. It snows. The snow falls off the roof. Don’t design a slopping roof where the snow can’t be caught or guttered off somewhere.”
From The Verge ● Dec. 28, 2017
Many of today’s punks grew up in the halcyon nineties, when the flame of the culture had guttered out.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 8, 2017
One more guttered out even as she watched, and the darkness came a little farther down the hall, creeping toward her.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
The insurer told her the hail damage—to guttering and copper on the roof—tallied just $2,000, well below her policy’s deductible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
And it’s still a rite of passage among Bardstown teens to see how far across the under-city you and your friends can get with your guttering Bic lighters and your courage.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2023
Clouds of incense, guttering candles: Inside Lviv’s garrison church, singer Vasyl Hnypyuk’s high baritone rose and fell in cadence, supplementing the chanting of presiding priests.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2023
Mouse carcasses and excrement in roof guttering are polluting farmers’ water tanks and causing sickness.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 22, 2021
But still we could see the city before us, though it was limned only by glances of light through windows, guttering signal fires, a glimmer of ovens.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
