gutter

[ guht-er ]

noun

1. a channel at the side or in the middle of a road or street, for leading off surface water.
2. a channel at the eaves or on the roof of a building, for carrying off rainwater.
3. any channel, trough, or the like for carrying off fluid.
4. a furrow or channel made by running water.
5. Bowling. a sunken channel extending along each side of a bowling lane, to catch balls that stray over the edge.
6. the state or abode of those who live in degradation, squalor, etc.:

   the language of the gutter.

7. the white space formed by the inner margins of two facing pages in a bound book, magazine, or newspaper.

verb (used without object)

1. to flow in streams.
2. (of a candle) to lose molten wax accumulated in a hollow space around the wick.
3. (of a lamp or candle flame) to burn low or to be blown so as to be nearly extinguished.
4. to form gutters, as water does.

verb (used with object)

1. to make gutters in; channel.
2. to furnish with a gutter or gutters:

   to gutter a new house.

gutter

/ ˈɡʌtə /

noun

1. a channel along the eaves or on the roof of a building, used to collect and carry away rainwater
2. a channel running along the kerb or the centre of a road to collect and carry away rainwater
3. a trench running beside a canal lined with clay puddle
4. either of the two channels running parallel to a tenpin bowling lane
5. printing
   1. the space between two pages in a forme
   2. the white space between the facing pages of an open book
   3. the space between two columns of type
6. the space left between stamps on a sheet in order to separate them
7. surfing a dangerous deep channel formed by currents and waves
8. (in gold-mining) the channel of a former watercourse that is now a vein of gold
9. the gutter
   a poverty-stricken, degraded, or criminal environment

verb

1. tr to make gutters in
2. intr to flow in a stream or rivulet
3. intr (of a candle) to melt away by the wax forming channels and running down in drops
4. intr (of a flame) to flicker and be about to go out

Derived Forms

• ˈgutter-ˌlike, adjective

Other Words From

• gutter·like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of gutter¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English gutter, goter, from Old French go(u)tiere, equivalent to goutte “drop” + -iere, feminine of -ier; gout, -er ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of gutter¹

C13: from Anglo-French goutiere, from Old French goute a drop, from Latin gutta

Idioms and Phrases

see in the gutter .

Example Sentences

To understand how unnerving it is out there for cyclists, I might suggest you saddle up and pedal in a gutter bike lane during rush hour.

From Los Angeles Times

She doesn’t need to find the elusive means of dragging Hogan’s favorability into the gutter.

From Slate

"He used to hide them in the gutter above his bedroom window and in the toilet cistern - I'd cut open his old teddy bears and he'd stashed them in there - my husband and I didn't know what to do."

From BBC

The bar on offensive public rhetoric is lowered into the gutter.

From Salon

Gutter birds, sky rats, vermin - pigeons don't have the best reputation, but one woman is on a mission to change that.

From BBC

Related Words

• culvert
• dike
• duct
• eaves
• pipe
• sewer
• tube