coulee

[ koo-lee ]

noun

1. Chiefly Western U.S. and Western Canada. a deep ravine or gulch, usually dry, that has been formed by running water.
2. a small valley.
3. a low-lying area.
4. a small intermittent stream.
5. Geology. a stream of lava.

coulee

/ -lɪ; ˈkuːleɪ /

noun

1. 1. a flow of molten lava
   2. such lava when solidified
2. a dry stream valley, especially a long steep-sided gorge or ravine that once carried melt water from a glacier
3. a small intermittent stream in such a ravine

Word History and Origins

Origin of coulee¹

1800–10, Americanism; < Canadian French, French: a flowing, noun use of feminine of coulé, past participle of couler to flow < Latin cōlāre to filter, strain, derivative of cōlum strainer, sieve; colander, portcullis

Word History and Origins

Origin of coulee¹

C19: from Canadian French coulée a flow, from French, from couler to flow, from Latin cōlāre to sift, purify; see colander

Example Sentences

With electricity demand soaring, dams could produce vast quantities of cheap power by harnessing the water flowing through them to turn a turbine: The Grand Coulee Dam, built during the Great Depression atop the Columbia River, generates 21 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, enough to power 2 million homes.

From Slate

Raised in Coulee City, Grant County, Ewell moved to Seattle shortly after graduating high school in 1973, worked as a dishwasher and a short-order cook, and for a dozen years or so was the caretaker at Progressive Missionary Baptist Church.

From Seattle Times

One, with tribes in the Upper Columbia region, provides significant funding to explore the reintroduction of salmon above Grand Coulee Dam.

From Seattle Times

Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to make portions of the upper Columbia River, the 150 miles upstream of Grand Coulee Dam including the vast recreational area known as Lake Roosevelt, a Superfund site.

From Seattle Times

Air, liquid and slag discharges of heavy metals from the zinc and lead smelter resulted in contamination all the way to the Grand Coulee.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• abyss
• canyon
• chasm
• crevasse
• crevice
• ditch
• gorge
• gully
• valley