channel
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈt͡ʃænəl/
rhymes: -ænəl
Forms: form: channels
Etymology: From Middle English chanel (also as canel, cannel, kanel), a borrowing from Old French chanel, canel, from Latin canālis (“groove; canal; channel”). Doublet of canal.
Senses: examples: text: The water coming out of the waterwheel created a standing wave in the channel.
glosses: The hollow bed of running waters; (also) the bed of the sea or other body of water.
examples: text: A channel was dredged to allow ocean-going vessels to reach the city.
text: European adventurers found themselves within a watery world, a tapestry of streams, channels, wetlands, lakes and lush riparian meadows enriched by floodwaters from the Mississippi River.
ref: 2013 January 24, Nancy Langston, “The Fraught History of a Watery World”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2013, page 59:
glosses: The natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar, bay, or any shallow body of water.
examples: text: We were careful to keep our boat in the channel.
glosses: The navigable part of a river.
examples: text: The English Channel lies between France and England.
text: Our citizens and our businesses on both sides of the channel need more security and predictability for the future
ref: 2018 May 14, Jon Stone in Brussels, The Independent:
glosses: A narrow body of water between two land masses.
examples: text: The news was conveyed to us by different channels.
text: But I write to tell you what you will hear through all the various channels by which news travels,...
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 69–70:
text: The veins are converging channels.
ref: 1859, John Call Dalton, A Treatise on Human Physiology:
text: At best, he is but a channel to convey to the National Assembly such matter as may import that body to know.
ref: 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Something through which another thing passes; a means of conveying or transmitting.
topics: biochemistry
biology
chemistry
microbiology
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: An ion channel: pore-forming proteins located in a cell membrane that allow specific ions to pass through.
glosses: A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.
examples: text: The channel is not very efficient as a beam or column when used alone, but built-up members may be constructed of channels assembled together with other structural shapes and connected by rivets or welds.
ref: 1960, “Structural Shapes”, in Construction Materials, Concrete Construction, and Engineer Computations, U.S. Government Printing Office:
topics: business
construction
engineering
manufacturing
mechanical
mechanical-engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A structural member with a cross section shaped like a squared-off letter C.
examples: text: The guard-rail provided the channel between the downed wire and the tree.
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: A connection between initiating and terminating nodes of a circuit.
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: The narrow conducting portion of a MOSFET transistor.
examples: text: A channel stretches between them.
topics: communication
communications
glosses: The part that connects a data source to a data sink.
examples: text: We are using one of the 24 channels.
topics: communication
communications
glosses: A path for conveying electrical or electromagnetic signals, usually distinguished from other parallel paths.
examples: text: The channel is created by bonding the signals from these four pairs.
topics: communication
communications
glosses: A single path provided by a transmission medium via physical separation, such as by multipair cable.
examples: text: Their call is being carried on channel 6 of the T-1 line.
topics: communication
communications
glosses: A single path provided by a transmission medium via spectral or protocol separation, such as by frequency or time-division multiplexing.
examples: text: KNDD is the channel at 107.7 MHz in Seattle.
topics: broadcasting
media
glosses: A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies, usually in conjunction with a predetermined letter, number, or codeword, and allocated by international agreement.
examples: text: NBC is on channel 11 in San Jose.
text: 2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xi
TV back then was five channels (three networks, PBS, and an independent station that ran I Love Lucy reruns), […]
topics: broadcasting
media
glosses: A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies used for transmitting television.
examples: text: This chip in this disk drive is the channel device.
qualifier: storage
glosses: The portion of a storage medium, such as a track or a band, that is accessible to a given reading or writing station or head.
examples: text: The liquid is pressurized in the lateral channel.
glosses: The part of a turbine pump where the pressure is built up.
topics: business
marketing
glosses: A distribution channel.
examples: text: The excerpt in Figure 1 below shows a list of some channel names as they appear to an IRC user. The left hand column displays the channel name, the middle column displays how many people are currently on the channel, and the right hand column indicates the theme of the channel or the current topic of conversation: […]
ref: 1996, Susan C. Herring, Computer-mediated Communication, page 50:
glosses: A particular area for conversations on an IRC or similar network, analogous to a chat room and often dedicated to a specific topic.
examples: text: Netcaster is the "receiver" for channels that are built into Netscape 4.01 and later releases.
ref: 1999, Jeffrey S Rule, Dynamic HTML: The HTML Developer's Guide:
text: To access channels in Windows 98, you don't have to go any farther than your desktop.
ref: 1999, Margaret Levine Young, Internet: The Complete Reference:
glosses: A means of delivering up-to-date Internet content via a push mechanism.
glosses: A psychic or medium who temporarily takes on the personality of somebody else.
Synonyms: sense: narrow body of water between two land masses
word: passage
word: sound
word: strait
sense: for television
english: from when there were only two channels
translation: from when there were only two channels
word: side
word: station
sense: groove, as in a fluted column
word: groove
word: gutter
sense: structural member
word: C-channel
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: alpha channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: back-channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: back channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: barker channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: Bashi Channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: Beagle Channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: Bristol Channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: calcium channel blocker
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: change the channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel bass
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel-bill cuckoo
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel-billed cuckoo
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel black
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel cat
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel catfish
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel changer
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel coal
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel drift
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channeler
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel fever
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel flashing
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel hop
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel-hop
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel-hopping
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channelisation
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: Channel Islands
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channelization
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channelize
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel money
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel of distribution
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channelography
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channelome
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channelopathy
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel plate
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channelrhodopsin
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel stopper
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel stuffing
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel surf
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channel-surf
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: Channel Tunnel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channelward
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: channelwards
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: chocolate channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: clear-channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: cochannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: co-channel interference
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: covert channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: cross channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: cross-channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: eigenchannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: enchannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: English Channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: frequency channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: Gardos channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: hemichannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: interchannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: intrachannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: ion channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: linear channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: macrochannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: megachannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: mesochannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: metachannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: microchannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: midchannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: mischannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: multichannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: nanochannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: navigation channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: news channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: omnichannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: palaeochannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: paleochannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: potassium channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: pseudochannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: rechannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: rechannelization
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: rechannelize
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: sidechannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: side-channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: sodium channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: SOFAR channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: sofar channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: subchannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: superchannel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: television channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: timeshift channel
sense: Terms derived from channel (noun)
word: TV channel
Related terms: canal