gutter: Meaning and Definition of

gut•ter

Pronunciation: (gut'ur), [key]
— n.
  1. a channel at the side or in the middle of a road or street, for leading off surface water.
  2. a channel at the eaves or on the roof of a building, for carrying off rain water.
  3. any channel, trough, or the like for carrying off fluid.
  4. a furrow or channel made by running water.
  5. 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.
  6. the state or abode of those who live in degradation, squalor, etc.: the language of the gutter.
  7. the white space formed by the inner margins of two facing pages in a bound book, magazine, or newspaper.
—v.i.
  1. to flow in streams.
  2. (of a candle) to lose molten wax accumulated in a hollow space around the wick.
  3. (of a lamp or candle flame) to burn low or to be blown so as to be nearly extinguished.
  4. to form gutters, as water does.
—v.t.
  1. to make gutters in; channel.
  2. to furnish with a gutter or gutters: to gutter a new house.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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