gutter
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡʌt.ə/
ipa: /ˈɡʌt.ɚ/
ipa: /ˈɡʌɾ.ɚ/
ipa: /ˈɡat.ə/
ipa: /ˈɡaɾ.ə/
rhymes: -ʌtə(ɹ)
Forms: form: gutters
Etymology: From Middle English gutter, guttur, goter, from Anglo-Norman guttere, from Old French goutiere (French gouttière), ultimately from Latin gutta (“drop”).
Senses: examples: text: They a not so clean as they might be, since the water [is] carried off by only one gutter, in the centre of t[he] street
ref: 1836, Charles F. Partington, “Paris”, in The British Cyclopaedia of Literature, History, Geography, Law and Politics, page 202:
glosses: A prepared channel in a surface, especially at the side of a road adjacent to a curb, intended for the drainage of water.
examples: text: In nearly all of the towns the gutters are filled with vegetation, or have been neglected for so long a time that the roadway becomes its own drainage bed.
ref: 1902, Massachusetts Highway Commission, Annual Report of the Massachusetts Highway Commission, volume 9:
text: ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: As Mike parked the vehicle, its right wheels sank into an unpaved gutter gradually worn irregular and deep by the rush of rainwater flowing down the street.
ref: 2006, Henry Clark, Trophy Boy, page 122:
text: Gutters separated the sidewalk from the road on both sides and flowed with muddy water.
ref: 2008, Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns:
text: Meltwater gathered in the icy ruts of the unpaved road, the pressure wearing thin channels in the packed snow. Along the gutter the rivulets of spring runoff cut a course to the storm sewer
ref: 2011, Judith Duncan, Murphy's Child:
glosses: A ditch along the side of a road.
examples: text: The gutters must be cleared of leaves a few times a year.
glosses: A duct or channel beneath the eaves of a building to carry rain water; eavestrough.
examples: text: You can decide to use the bumpers to avoid the ball going down the gutter every time.
topics: bowling
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A groove down the sides of a bowling lane.
glosses: A large groove (commonly behind animals) in a barn used for the collection and removal of animal excrement.
glosses: Any narrow channel or groove, such as one formed by erosion in the vent of a gun from repeated firing.
topics: media
publishing
typography
glosses: A space between printed columns of text.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: One of a number of pieces of wood or metal, grooved in the centre, used to separate the pages of type in a form.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
philately
glosses: An unprinted space between rows of stamps.
glosses: A drainage channel.
examples: text: Nosei (Löwensohn): This is Tom and Cynthia Kruger. / Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright): I heard. / Nosei: This is Jean-Michel Basquiat. / Tom Kruger (Chuck Pfeiffer): Hi. / Nosei: You've seen the SAMO graffiti everywhere – that's his. This is the true voice of the gutter.
ref: 1996, Julian Schnabel, Basquiat, spoken by Annina Nosei (Elina Löwensohn), United States: Eleventh Street Productions; distributed by Miramax Films:
glosses: The notional locus of things, acts, or events that are distasteful, ill-bred, or morally questionable.
examples: text: Get your mind out of the gutter.
text: What kind of gutter language is that? I ought to wash your mouth out with soap.
text: Lord Darlington. No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
ref: 1892, Oscar Wilde, “Act III”, in Lady Windermere's Fan […] :
glosses: A low, vulgar state.
topics: comics
literature
media
publishing
glosses: A space between comic strip panels.
Derived terms: cum gutters
get one's head out of the gutter
get one's mind out of the gutter
gutter ape
gutter ball
gutterball
gutterblood
gutter dog
gutterdog
gutter game
gutter guard
gutterless
gutterlike
gutter member
gutter mouth
guttermouth
gutter oil
gutter plane
gutter press
gutter rabbit
guttersnipe
guttersome
gutter stick
gutterwork
gutter wound
guttery
rain gutter
skite-the-gutter
Related terms: gout