gutter

A prepared channel in a surface, especially at the side of a road adjacent to a curb, intended for the drainage of water.

Adjective

  1. Vulgar, sordid, or low-class.
    • The "greatest" controversy came when Farrakhan was accused of calling Judaism a "gutter religion". Farrakhan says he never used the word "gutter." - 1996, A. Marshall, Louis Farrakhan, Made in America, page 143:

Origin

From Middle English gutter, guttur, goter, from Anglo-Norman guttere, from Old French goutiere (French gouttière), ultimately from Latin gutta (“drop”).

Forms

more gutter most gutter

Noun Entry 2

  1. A prepared channel in a surface, especially at the side of a road adjacent to a curb, intended for the drainage of water.
    • 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 - 1836, Charles F. Partington, “Paris”, in The British Cyclopaedia of Literature, History,...
  2. A ditch along the side of a road.
    • 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. - 1902, Massachusetts Highway Commission, Annual Report of the...
    • ‘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...
    • 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. - 2006, Henry Clark, Trophy Boy, page 122:
  3. A duct or channel beneath the eaves of a building to carry rain water; eavestrough.
    • The gutters must be cleared of leaves a few times a year.
  4. A groove down the sides of a bowling lane.
    • You can decide to use the bumpers to avoid the ball going down the gutter every time.
  5. A large groove (commonly behind animals) in a barn used for the collection and removal of animal excrement.
  6. Any narrow channel or groove, such as one formed by erosion in the vent of a gun from repeated firing.
  7. A space between printed columns of text.
  8. One of a number of pieces of wood or metal, grooved in the centre, used to separate the pages of type in a form.
  9. An unprinted space between rows of stamps.
  10. A drainage channel.
  11. The notional locus of things, acts, or events that are distasteful, ill-bred, or morally questionable.
    • 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...
  12. A low, vulgar state.
    • Get your mind out of the gutter.
    • What kind of gutter language is that? I ought to wash your mouth out with soap.
    • Lord Darlington. No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. - 1892, Oscar Wilde, “Act III”, in Lady Windermere's Fan […] :

Forms

gutters

Related

gout

Derived

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 guttermouth gutter mouth gutter oil gutter plane gutter press gutter punk gutter rabbit gutter rat guttersnipe guttersome

Noun Entry 3

  1. One who or that which guts.
    • A Galilean Rabbi? When did this Province of diggers in dirt and gutters of fish send forth Rabbis? Thou makest a jest. - 1921, Bernie Babcock, The Coming of the King, page 151:
    • An old, rusty coat hanger made a rudimentary fish-gutter. - 2013, Don Keith, Shelley Stewart, Mattie C.'s Boy: The Shelley Stewart Story, page 34:

Origin

Etymology tree English gut Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English gutter From gut + -er.

Forms

gutters

Verb

  1. To flow or stream; to form gutters.
  2. To melt away by having the molten wax run down along the side of the candle.

    Synonyms: cloam

  3. To flicker as if about to be extinguished.
    • The light in his eyes guttered like a candle in a mighty wind and finally went out. She had no time to grieve[…] - 2020 November 16, Emma Castle, Devastate Me: A Next-door Neighbor Romance, Lauren Smith, →ISBN:
    • Alex's eyes gutter, and his face goes cold. He stands there mutely through my apology, stiff and frozen. I want to touch him, but I'm scared he'll flinch away. - 2023 October 10, Clare Gilmore, Love Interest: A Novel,...
  4. To send (a bowling ball) into the gutter, not hitting any pins.
  5. To supply with a gutter or gutters.
    • A narrow flooring, guttered, walled, and tiled. - 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob...
  6. To cut or form into small longitudinal hollows; to channel.
    • The gutter'd-Rockes, and Congregated Sands, - c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First...
  7. To worsen considerably.
    • The students' performance guttered after the school event.
    • The patient's state would soon gutter.

Forms

gutters guttering guttered

Derived

gutter out