chute

1 of 2

noun

variants or less commonly shute
1
b
: a quick descent (as in a river) : rapid
2
: an inclined plane, sloping channel, or passage down or through which things may pass : slide
3
4

chute

2 of 2

verb

chuted; chuting

transitive verb

: to convey by a chute

intransitive verb

1
: to go in or as if in a chute
2
: to utilize a chute (as by passing ore down it)

Examples of chute in a Sentence

Noun She dropped the towels into the laundry chute. children sliding down a water chute The skiers came racing down the chute.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
For even more intensity, the Whistler Bowl has everything from chutes to drops. Julia Eskins, Travel + Leisure, 3 Nov. 2023 The attraction involves riding a ski-lift-type gondola up the mountain, hopping onto a toboggan — basically a sled with wheels — and riding down a metal chute. Laurel Rosenhall, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2023 The railroad rolls out all five of its Shay steam locomotives, tooting their whistles, chuffing black coal smoke, and fuming chutes of white steam through its piston valves and exhaust ports. Mark Orwoll, Travel + Leisure, 5 Oct. 2023 The Penn Station of the 1960s was designed without a true front entrance, just a scattering of back doors and human coal chutes. Curbed, 28 June 2023 The following year, only two of its three main parachutes deployed during a test because workers simply failed to attach one of the smaller, lead chutes to the main parachute. Christian Davenport, Washington Post, 2 Oct. 2023 The larger main chute deployed at a higher altitude than planned, which led to a landing three minutes earlier than expected. Katrina Miller, New York Times, 25 Sep. 2023 First, the capsule will deploy a small drogue chute to keep itself stable. WIRED, 22 Sep. 2023 An icy chute ten feet deep sits slightly downhill, at a precipice high above the glacier’s terminus. Anna Canny, Anchorage Daily News, 13 Aug. 2023
Verb
Insert the side discharge chute Install the side discharge chute on a 3-function mower (mulches, side discharges or bags). Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 10 July 2023 Taller grass was no issue for this machine, and the side discharge chute powerfully ejects clippings far away from the mower, with no lawn chunks in sight. Kat De Naoum, Better Homes & Gardens, 12 June 2023 As Kaiser and Diehl fielded questions in the race chute after finishing, musher John Baker stood nearby, chatting with some friends. Michelle Theriault Boots, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Mar. 2023 Two and a half feet of rain beat down upon the face of the San Gabriels, wiping out the rustic resorts wedged into the canyons, and chuting runoff waters down onto the plain along ancient dry rivulets and freshets and canyons that Angelenos had forgotten or never known about. Patt Morrisoncolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2023 Once inside, people then shoveled the coal through a small door or chute into the storage room, coal cellar, or furnace closet. Hadley Mendelsohn, House Beautiful, 5 Jan. 2023 The mountains bear that bright March radiance, glowing in creamy white palettes that chute down their steep sides. Alli Harvey, Anchorage Daily News, 2 Apr. 2022 Oh, chute: If there are freshies to be had, Blackley starts at the Milly Express lift and makes laps. Julie Jag, The Salt Lake Tribune, 26 Oct. 2021 As a result, when the pilot chutes deployed to pull out the mains, one of them was not properly connected. William Harwood, CBS News, 7 Nov. 2019 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chute.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

French, from Old French, from cheoir to fall, from Latin cadere — more at chance

First Known Use

Noun

1805, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1884, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of chute was in 1805

Dictionary Entries Near chute

Cite this Entry

“Chute.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chute. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.

Kids Definition

chute

noun
variants also shute
ˈshüt
1
: an inclined plane, sloping channel, or passage down or through which things may pass
a coal chute
a mail chute
2

More from Merriam-Webster on chute

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