Word.ws English Dictionary

couloir

/kulˈwɑɹ/

couloir noun: a steep gorge along a mountainside.

couloir: a steep gorge along a mountainside
Image: Matija Podhraški, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

couloir (plural couloirs)

  1. A steep gorge along a mountainside.
    • Those deep, dark slots in a mountain known as couloirs are often the most obvious routes of ascent.1978, Yvon Chouinard, Climbing Ice, page 145
    • Looking up the face I could see directly into the Japanese and Hornbein couloirs, an almost direct 9000 feet to the summit.1987, Roger Marshall, AdventureSport: Everest and Me: Backpacker, page 42
  2. (rare) A corridor or passage.
    • It was a hole, in the fence, a large irregular hole, caused by numberless winds, numberless rains, or by a boar, or by a bull, flying, pursuing, a wild boar, a wild bull, blind with fear, blind with rage, or who knows perhaps with carnal desire, crashing at this point, through the fence, weakened...1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC

Examples of couloir in a sentence

  • Ascend a long, easy snow couloir back left to the crest of Cassin Ridge at 17700 feet, where there is a campsite.1998, R. J. Secor, Denali Climbing Guide, page 99:
  • Through this hole I passed, without hurt, or damage to my pretty uniform, and found myself looking about me, for I had not yet recovered my aplomb, in the couloir.1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:

Forms of couloir

pluralcouloirs

Origin of couloir

Borrowed from French couloir (literally “corridor”).

Phrases with couloir

Words that rhyme with couloir

Questions about couloir

What does couloir mean?
Couloir means a steep gorge along a mountainside.
How do you use couloir in a sentence?
Ascend a long, easy snow couloir back left to the crest of Cassin Ridge at 17700 feet, where there is a campsite.
What part of speech is couloir?
Couloir is a noun.
How do you pronounce couloir?
Couloir is pronounced /kulˈwɑɹ/.
What is the plural of couloir?
The plural of couloir is couloirs.

Words near couloir in the dictionary

  1. coulises
  2. coulisse
  3. coulisses
  4. Coulls
  5. coulochemical
  6. couloir
  7. couloirs
  8. coulomb
  9. Coulomb attraction
  10. Coulomb barrier
  11. Coulomb barriers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: couloir (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-couloir.wav.

Cite this entry: “couloir.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/couloir. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.