gutter
pronunciation
How to pronounce gutter in British English:
UK [ˈɡʌtə(r)]
How to pronounce gutter in American English:
US [ˈɡʌtər]
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- Noun:
- a channel along the eaves or on the roof; collects and carries away rainwater
- misfortune resulting in lost effort or money
- a worker who guts things (fish or buildings or cars etc.)
- a tool for gutting fish
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- Verb:
- burn unsteadily, feebly, or low; flicker
- flow in small streams
- wear or cut gutters into
- provide with gutters
Word Origin
- gutter
- gutter: [13] Etymologically, a gutter is something along which ‘drops’ of water run. Its distant ancestor is Latin gutta ‘drop’ (source also of English gout). From it was formed the Vulgar Latin derivative *guttāria, which passed into English via Anglo-Norman gotere. The use of the word as a verb, meaning (of a flame) ‘flicker on the point of going out’, comes from the channel, or ‘gutter’, formed down one side of a candle by the melted wax flowing away.=> gout
- gutter (n.)
- late 13c., "watercourse, water drainage channel along the side of a street," from Anglo-French gotere, Old French guitere, goutiere "gutter, spout" of water (12c., Modern French gouttière), from goute "a drop," from Latin gutta "a drop" (see gout). 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.
- gutter (v.)
- late 14c., "to make or run in channels" (transitive), from gutter (n.). Intransitive use, in reference to candles (1706) it is from the channel that forms as the molten wax flows off. Related: Guttered; guttering.
Example
- 1. Comatose teenagers line every gutter in the boozy britain of popular imagination .
- 2. This is the main city gutter .
- 3. Slight slope directs grease into generous grease gutter .
- 4. Scandals over contaminated food - most recently gutter oil - have caused considerable public alarm in china in recent years .
- 5. Discharge gutter downspouts properly , slope ground away from the house and seal foundation flaws and cracks-this will also help .