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chute

 - 4 dictionary results

chute

1[shoot] noun, verb, chut⋅ed, chut⋅ing.
–noun
1. an inclined channel, as a trough, tube, or shaft, for conveying water, grain, coal, etc., to a lower level.
2. a waterfall or steep descent, as in a river.
3. a water slide, as at an amusement park.
4. a steep slope, as for tobogganing.
–verb (used with object)
5. to move or deposit, by or as if by means of a chute: The dock had facilities for chuting grain directly into the hold of a vessel.
–verb (used without object)
6. to descend by or as if by means of a chute.
7. out of the chute, at the start; at the very beginning: The new business made mistakes right out of the chute and failed within a year.

Origin:
1715–25; < F, MF, repr. OF cheoite a fall, nominalized fem. ptp. of cheoir to fall (< VL *cadēre, for L cadere; cf. cadence, case 1 ), with vowel of MF chue, OF cheue, a variant ptp.; some senses influenced by shoot

chute

2[shoot] noun, verb, chut⋅ed, chut⋅ing.
–noun
1. a parachute.
–verb (used without object)
2. to descend from the air by or as if by a parachute.
–verb (used with object)
3. to drop from an aircraft by means of a parachute: Supplies were chuted to the snowbound mountain climbers.

Origin:
1915–20, Americanism; by shortening

Fall, The

–noun
French, La Chute), a novel (1957) by Albert Camus.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To chute
chute   (shōōt)   
n.  
  1. An inclined trough, passage, or channel through or down which things may pass.

  2. A waterfall or rapid.

  3. A parachute.

v.   chut·ed, chut·ing, chutes

v.   tr.
To convey or deposit by a chute.
v.   intr.
To go or descend by a chute.

[French, a fall, alteration (influenced by chu) of Old French cheoite, from feminine past participle of cheoir, to fall, from Vulgar Latin *cadēre, from Latin cadere; see kad- in Indo-European roots. Sense 3, short for parachute.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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