[waw-ter-spout, wot-er-] 
| 1. | Also called rainspout. a pipe running down the side of a house or other building to carry away water from the gutter of the roof. |
| 2. | a spout, duct, or the like, from which water is discharged. |
| 3. | a funnel-shaped or tubular portion of a cloud over the ocean or other body of water that, laden with mist and spray, resembles a solid column of water reaching upward to the cloud from which it hangs. Compare tornado (def. 1). |
| gut·ter (gŭt'ər) n.
v. tr.
[Middle English goter, guter, from Old French gotier, from gote, drop, from Latin gutta.] Certain household words have proved important as markers for major U.S. dialect boundaries. The channels along the edge of a roof for carrying away rainwater (normally referred to in the plural) are variously known as eaves troughs or, less commonly, eaves spouts in parts of New England, the Great Lakes states, and, for the former, the West; spouting or rainspouts in eastern Pennsylvania and the Delmarva Peninsula; and gutters from Virginia southward. Along the Atlantic coast, the transition points have marked unusually clear boundaries for the three major dialect areas—Northern, Midland, and Southern—traditionally acknowledged by scholars of American dialects. Nowadays, however, Southern gutters seems to have become the standard U.S. term. According to the Dictionary of American Regional English, gutters has become well established in northern states along the Atlantic coast from Maine to New Jersey; in Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri; and as far west as California. See Note at andiron. |
