DCHP-1 Online
Chinook [< Salishan (Chehalis) chənukw] 
1 n. Hist. (one of) a relatively small group of Indians who lived north of the Columbia River on the Pacific Coast.
- 1824 (1931) The Chinooks never take the trouble of hunting and rarely employ their Slaves in that way, they are however keen traders and through their hands nearly the whole of our Furs pass.
- 1958 Four-fifths of the Chinook were wiped out by a fever epidemic in 1829.
2 n. a relatively simple trade language used by the Indians of the Pacific Coast in their dealings with whites and Indians of other tribes, based on the language of the Chinook Indians; words from Nootka, Salish, French, English, and other languages were adapted to the jargon.
See also: Chinook Jargon
- 1833 (1963) Have begun making a vocabulary of the Chenooke gibberish, by which we communicate with the indians . . . it is a vile compound of English, French, American & the Chenooke dialect.
- 1859 From the prospectus we learn that it will be printed in English and not in Chinook, the diplomatic language of the northern courts.
- 1963 [George] used Chinook, the language [of] conversation between whites and Indians in fur-trading days. . . .
3 n. a warm, usually dry, west or southwest wind, commonest during winter and spring, that moderates the weather in the region east of the Rockies, including much of the western prairies on occasion, but regularly in the foothills from the Peace River to Colorado. Also spelled chinook.
See also: Chinook wind
- 1879 On the evening of the fourth, however, a chinook sprang up and sent the cold snap to seek its old haunts.
- 1963 I'm thankful for breezy Chinooks that make our city the envy of all Canadian cities. . . .
- 1966 The weather still hasn't broken--no chinook has made its appearance [in S. Alberta]. . . .
4 n. a large salmon, Onchorhynchus tshawytscha, of the Pacific Coast, much valued as a game fish. Also spelled chinook.
See also: Chinook salmon
- 1933 Salmon is, of course, principally canned though there is a limited quantity salted each year and there is also a considerable business done in mild curing, principally of Kings or Chinooks.
- 1964 Spring salmon . . . have become extinct through the modern terminology of science and will from now on be known . . . as Chinooks.
- 1824 (1931) The Chinooks never take the trouble of hunting and rarely employ their Slaves in that way, they are however keen traders and through their hands nearly the whole of our Furs pass.