gutter Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a channel along the eaves or on the roof; collects and carries away rainwater
    trough.
  2. noun misfortune resulting in lost effort or money
    toilet; sewer.
    • his career was in the gutter
    • all that work went down the sewer
    • pensions are in the toilet
  3. noun a worker who guts things (fish or buildings or cars etc.)
  4. noun a tool for gutting fish
  5. verb burn unsteadily, feebly, or low; flicker
    • The cooling lava continued to gutter toward lower ground
  6. verb flow in small streams
    • Tears guttered down her face
  7. verb wear or cut gutters into
    • The heavy rain guttered the soil
  8. verb provide with gutters
    • gutter the buildings

WordNet

Gut"ter noun
Etymology
OE. gotere, OF. goutiere, F. gouttière, fr. OF. gote, goute, drop, F. goutte, fr. L. gutta.
Definitions
  1. A channel at the eaves of a roof for conveying away the rain; an eaves channel; an eaves trough.
  2. A small channel at the roadside or elsewhere, to lead off surface water.
    Gutters running with ale. Macaulay.
  3. Any narrow channel or groove; as, a gutter formed by erosion in the vent of a gun from repeated firing.
Gut*ter transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Guttered present participle & verbal noun Guttering
Definitions
  1. To cut or form into small longitudinal hollows; to channel. Shak.
  2. To supply with a gutter or gutters. R. Dryden.
Gut"ter intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To become channeled, as a candle when the flame flares in the wind.

Webster 1913