gutter: Meaning and Definition of
gut•ter
Pronunciation: (gut'ur), [key] — n.
- a channel at the side or in the middle of a road or street, for leading off surface water.
- a channel at the eaves or on the roof of a building, for carrying off rain water.
- any channel, trough, or the like for carrying off fluid.
- a furrow or channel made by running water.
- a sunken channel on each side of the alley from the line marking the limit of a fair delivery of the ball to the sunken area behind the pins.
- the state or abode of those who live in degradation, squalor, etc.: the language of the gutter.
- the white space formed by the inner margins of two facing pages in a bound book, magazine, or newspaper.
—v.i. - to flow in streams.
- (of a candle) to lose molten wax accumulated in a hollow space around the wick.
- (of a lamp or candle flame) to burn low or to be blown so as to be nearly extinguished.
- to form gutters, as water does.
—v.t. - to make gutters in; channel.
- to furnish with a gutter or gutters: to gutter a new house.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.