Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

chan·nel 1       (chān'əl)  Pronunciation Key  n.   The bed of a stream or river. The deeper part of a river or harbor, especially a deep navigable passage. A broad strait, especially one that connects two seas. A trench, furrow, or groove. A tubular passage for liquids; a conduit. A course or pathway through which information is transmitted: new channels of thought; a reliable channel of information. A route of communication or access. Often used in the plural: took her request through official channels. In communications theory, a gesture, action, sound, written or spoken word, or visual image used in transmitting information. Electronics A specified frequency band for the transmission and reception of electromagnetic signals, as for television signals. Computer Science A site on a network, as on IRC, where online conversations are held in real time by a number of computer users. The medium through which a spirit guide purportedly communicates with the physical world. A rolled metal bar with a bracket-shaped section. A temporary opening in a cell membrane that allows ions or molecules to pass into or out of the cell. tr.v.   chan·neled also chan·nelled, chan·nel·ing also chan·nel·ling, chan·nels also chan·nels To make or cut channels in. To form a groove or flute in. To direct or guide along some desired course: channels her curiosity into research. To serve as a medium for (a spirit guide). [Middle English chanel, from Old French, from Latin canālis; see canal.] chan'nel·er n.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

chan·nel 2       (chān'əl)  Pronunciation Key  n.   Nautical A wood or steel ledge projecting from a sailing ship's sides to spread the shrouds and keep them clear of the gunwales. [Alteration of obsolete chainwale : chain + wale.]

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
channel 

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

channel
noun
1.	a path over which electrical signals can pass; "a channel is typically what you rent from a telephone company"
2.	a passage for water (or other fluids) to flow through; "the fields were crossed with irrigation channels"; "gutters carried off the rainwater into a series of channels under the street"
3.	a long narrow furrow cut either by a natural process (such as erosion) or by a tool (as e.g. a groove in a phonograph record) [syn: groove]
4.	a deep and relatively narrow body of water (as in a river or a harbor or a strait linking two larger bodies) that allows the best passage for vessels; "the ship went aground in the channel"
5.	(often plural) a means of communication or access; "it must go through official channels"; "lines of communication were set up between the two firms"
6.	a bodily passage or tube lined with epithelial cells and conveying a secretion or other substance; "the tear duct was obstructed"; "the alimentary canal"; "poison is released through a channel in the snake's fangs" [syn: duct]
7.	a television station and its programs; "a satellite TV channel"; "surfing through the channels"; "they offer more than one hundred channels"
8.	a way of selling a company's product either directly or via distributors; "possible distribution channels are wholesalers or small retailers or retail chains or direct mailers or your own stores" [syn: distribution channel]
verb
1.	transmit or serve as the medium for transmission; "Sound carries well over water"; "The airwaves carry the sound"; "Many metals conduct heat" [syn: impart]
2.	direct the flow of; "channel information towards a broad audience"
3.	send from one person or place to another; "transmit a message" [syn: transmit]

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

channel       (chān'əl)  Pronunciation Key  A specified frequency band for the transmission and reception of electromagnetic signals, as for television signals. The part of a field effect transistor, usually U-shaped, through which current flows from the source to the drain. See more at field effect transistor. A pathway through a protein molecule in a cell membrane that modulates the electrical potential across the membrane by controlling the passage of small inorganic ions into and out of the cell. The bed or deepest part of a river or harbor. A large strait, especially one that connects two seas.

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

channel chat
(Or "chat room", "room", depending on the system in question) The basic unit of group discussion in chat systems like IRC. Once one joins a channel, everything one types is read by others on that channel. Channels can either be named with numbers or with strings that begin with a "#" sign and can have topic descriptions (which are generally irrelevant to the actual subject of discussion).
Some notable channels are "#initgame", "#hottub" and "#report". At times of international crisis, "#report" has hundreds of members, some of whom take turns listening to various news services and typing in summaries of the news, or in some cases, giving first-hand accounts of the action (e.g. Scud missile attacks in Tel Aviv during the Gulf War in 1991).
[The Jargon File]
(1998-01-25)

U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Channel Lake, IL (CDP, FIPS 12489) Location: 42.48430 N, 88.15029 W
Population (1990): 1660 (800 housing units)
Area: 5.0 sq km (land), 0.9 sq km (water)

Channel Islands Beach, CA (CDP, FIPS 12669) Location: 34.15805 N, 119.22210 W
Population (1990): 3317 (1738 housing units)
Area: 1.1 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Channel

Ca*nal"\, n. [F. canal, from L. canalis canal, channel; prob. from a root signifying "to cut"; cf. D. kanaal, fr. the French. Cf. Channel, Kennel gutter.]

1. An artificial channel filled with water and designed for navigation, or for irrigating land, etc.

2. (Anat.) A tube or duct; as, the alimentary canal; the semicircular canals of the ear.

Canal boat, a boat for use on a canal; esp. one of peculiar shape, carrying freight, and drawn by horses walking on the towpath beside the canal.

Canal lock. See Lock.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Channel

Chan"nel\, n. [OE. chanel, canel, OF. chanel, F. chenel, fr. L. canalis. See Canal.]

1. The hollow bed where a stream of water runs or may run.

2. The deeper part of a river, harbor, strait, etc., where the main current flows, or which affords the best and safest passage for vessels.

3. (Geog.) A strait, or narrow sea, between two portions of lands; as, the British Channel.

4. That through which anything passes; means of passing, conveying, or transmitting; as, the news was conveyed to us by different channels.

The veins are converging channels. --Dalton.

At best, he is but a channel to convey to the National assembly such matter as may import that body to know. --Burke.

5. A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.

6. pl. [Cf. Chain wales.] (Naut.) Flat ledges of heavy plank bolted edgewise to the outside of a vessel, to increase the spread of the shrouds and carry them clear of the bulwarks.

Channel bar, Channel iron (Arch.), an iron bar or beam having a section resembling a flat gutter or channel.

Channel bill (Zo["o]l.), a very large Australian cuckoo (Scythrops Nov[ae]hollandi[ae].

Channel goose. (Zo["o]l.) See Gannet.