flume

[floom] noun, verb, flumed, flum·ing.
noun
1.
a deep narrow defile containing a mountain stream or torrent.
2.
an artificial channel or trough for conducting water, as one used to transport logs or provide water power.
3.
an amusement park ride in which passengers are carried in a boatlike or loglike conveyance through a narrow, water-filled chute or over a water slide.
verb (used with object)
4.
to transport in a flume.
5.
to divert (a stream) by a flume.
00:10
Flume is one of our favorite verbs.
So is fletcherise. Does it mean:
to run away hurriedly; flee.
to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

Origin:
1125–75; Middle English flum < Old FrenchLatin flūmen stream

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary
flume (fluːm) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  a ravine through which a stream flows
2.  a narrow artificial channel made for providing water for power, floating logs, etc
3.  a slide in the form of a long and winding tube with a stream of water running through it that descends into a purpose-built pool
 
vb
4.  (tr) to transport (logs) in a flume
 
[C12: from Old French flum, ultimately from Latin flūmen stream, from fluere to flow]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

flume
c.1175, "stream," from O.Fr. flum, from L. flumen "river," from fluere "to flow" (see fluent). In U.S., used especially of artificial streams channeled for some industrial purpose.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
The way a flume measurement works is that a portable flume is placed level in
  the stream and all flow is directed through it.
The more daring members can check out the park's flume slides, while the lazy
  river and wave pool offer more relaxing atmospheres.
They ride the flume of the circulatory system to the liver.
At the dam, water from the river is diverted into a flume, a wooden trough
  supported on a bench carved out of the mountainside.
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