plural Chinook or Chinooks
1
: a member of an Indigenous people of the north shore of the Columbia River at its mouth
2
: a Chinookan language of the Chinook and other nearby peoples
3
or less commonly chinook
a
: a warm moist southwest wind of the coast from Oregon northward
b
: a warm dry wind that descends the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
4
5
: any of a rare breed of large, muscular dogs that were developed in New Hampshire in the early 1900s as sled and working dogs and have a yellow, reddish-yellow, or yellowish-brown coat and calm temperament
Among the dogs he [Arthur Treadwell Walden] used for breeding the Chinook were descendants of Admiral Peary's Greenland expedition huskies, along with mastiff-types.—John Nolan
variant of Chinook salmon
: a large, usually red-fleshed, commercially important salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) of the northern Pacific Ocean that is typically bluish-green above with silvery sides, has a dark mouth with black gums, and attains an average weight of about 30 to 40 pounds (13.5 to 18 kilograms) but may sometimes exceed 120 pounds (54 kilograms)
called also black salmon, king salmon
Cite this Entry
“Chinook.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Chinook. Accessed 25 Aug. 2026.
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