DCHP-2

chute [< F] DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1 n.

  a falls or rapids.

  See also: shoot ((n.)) (def. 1)  

  • 1793  (1933)  [We] slept at the chute a Blondeau.
  • 1824  (1955)  These high banks prevail to the approach of the Chutes or falls in Peace River.
  • 1883  These places are called "chutes," and are generally narrow, crooked, and precipitous descents of the river. . . .
  • 1965  The river leaves Isaac Lake by a short fast chute. . . .

• 2 n.

  a fast-moving stretch of water over a relatively smooth bed.

  See also: riffle ((v.)) (def. 1c)  

  • 1819  (1939)  I perceived the canoe avoid the rapid and enter a shute.
  • 1956  [We met with] a long, oily chute, black as frozen molasses, white water on each side of us and white water ahead

• 3 n. — Lumbering

  an artificial sluiceway down which logs or cribs may be directed to avoid rapids, falls, or other obstructions in a river.

  See also: slide (def. 1a)  

  • 1903  . . . a dozen rivermen, one after the other, would often go through the chute of a dam standing upright on single logs.
  • 1947  On Porcupine Lake a dam had been built to control the flow of water, and the chute itself was nineteen hundred and fourteen feet long.