gutter
/ˈɡʌt.ə/US/ˈɡʌt.ɚ/
gutter noun: a prepared channel in a surface, especially at the side of a road adjacent to a curb, intended for the drainage of water.
Noun (1)
gutter (plural gutters)
- A prepared channel in a surface, especially at the side of a road adjacent to a curb, intended for the drainage of water.
- They a not so clean as they might be, since the water [is] carried off by only one gutter, in the centre of t[he] street1836, Charles F. Partington, “Paris”, in The British Cyclopaedia of Literature, History, Geography, Law and Politics, page 202
- A ditch along the side of a road.
- In nearly all of the towns the gutters are filled with vegetation, or have been neglected for so long a time that the roadway becomes its own drainage bed.1902, Massachusetts Highway Commission, Annual Report of the Massachusetts Highway Commission, volume 9
- ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
- A duct or channel beneath the eaves of a building to carry rain water; eavestrough.
- The gutters must be cleared of leaves a few times a year.
- A groove down the sides of a bowling lane.
- You can decide to use the bumpers to avoid the ball going down the gutter every time.
- A large groove (commonly behind animals) in a barn used for the collection and removal of animal excrement.
- Any narrow channel or groove, such as one formed by erosion in the vent of a gun from repeated firing.
- A space between printed columns of text.
- One of a number of pieces of wood or metal, grooved in the centre, used to separate the pages of type in a form.
- An unprinted space between rows of stamps.
- A drainage channel.
- The notional locus of things, acts, or events that are distasteful, ill-bred, or morally questionable.
- Nosei (Löwensohn): This is Tom and Cynthia Kruger. / Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright): I heard. / Nosei: This is Jean-Michel Basquiat. / Tom Kruger (Chuck Pfeiffer): Hi. / Nosei: You've seen the SAMO graffiti everywhere – that's his. This is the true voice of the gutter.1996, Julian Schnabel, Basquiat, spoken by Annina Nosei (Elina Löwensohn), United States: Eleventh Street Productions; distributed by Miramax Films
- A low, vulgar state.
- Get your mind out of the gutter.
- What kind of gutter language is that? I ought to wash your mouth out with soap.
- A space between comic strip panels.
Verb
gutter (third-person singular simple present gutters, present participle guttering, simple past and past participle guttered)
- To flow or stream; to form gutters.
- To melt away by having the molten wax run down along the side of the candle.
- Synonyms:
- cloam
- To flicker as if about to be extinguished.
- The light in his eyes guttered like a candle in a mighty wind and finally went out. She had no time to grieve[…]2020 November 16, Emma Castle, Devastate Me: A Next-door Neighbor Romance, Lauren Smith, →ISBN
- Alex's eyes gutter, and his face goes cold. He stands there mutely through my apology, stiff and frozen. I want to touch him, but I'm scared he'll flinch away.2023 October 10, Clare Gilmore, Love Interest: A Novel, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN
- To send (a bowling ball) into the gutter, not hitting any pins.
- To supply with a gutter or gutters.
- A narrow flooring, guttered, walled, and tiled.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- To cut or form into small longitudinal hollows; to channel.
- The gutter'd-Rockes, and Congregated Sands,c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- To worsen considerably.
- The students' performance guttered after the school event.
- The patient's state would soon gutter.
Adjective
gutter (comparative more gutter, superlative most gutter)
Noun (2)
gutter (plural gutters)
- One who or that which guts.
- A Galilean Rabbi? When did this Province of diggers in dirt and gutters of fish send forth Rabbis? Thou makest a jest.1921, Bernie Babcock, The Coming of the King, page 151
- An old, rusty coat hanger made a rudimentary fish-gutter.2013, Don Keith, Shelley Stewart, Mattie C.'s Boy: The Shelley Stewart Story, page 34
Proper noun capitalized: Gutter
Gutter (plural Gutters)
- A surname.
gutter meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
gutter in Hindi
- prepared channel in a surface
- गटर gaṭar, परनाला parnālā, पनारा panārā
- ditch along the side of road
- गटर gaṭar
- duct or channel beneath the eaves
- हलक halak, कंठ kaṇṭh, गटर gaṭar
gutter in Tamil
- drainage channel
- சாக்கடை cākkaṭai
- low, vulgar state
- சாக்கடை cākkaṭai
gutter in Marathi
- ditch along the side of road
- गटार gaṭār
gutter in Urdu
- بدرو, موری, نابدان, نالا, نالی
More languagesFewer languages
- gutter in Telugu
- గట్టర్
- gutter in Malayalam
- ഒഴുക്കുചാൽ, നിരത്തുചാൽ, ഓവ്, തീറ്റിമാടൻ
- gutter in Kannada
- ಬಚ್ಚಲ್, ಬಚ್ಚಲು, ಬಚಲು, ಬರ್ಚಲ್
- gutter in Punjabi
- ਖੁਰਾ khurā
- gutter in Gujarati
- ગટાર
- gutter in Nepali
- गटार
- gutter in Tagalog
- bambang, alulod
- gutter in Arabic
- مِزْراب mizrāb
- gutter in Malay
- longkang
- gutter in Indonesian
- talang, got
- gutter in Persian
- جوب jub, ناودان nâvdân
- gutter in Vietnamese
- rãnh, máng xối
Examples of gutter in a sentence
- As Mike parked the vehicle, its right wheels sank into an unpaved gutter gradually worn irregular and deep by the rush of rainwater flowing down the street.2006, Henry Clark, Trophy Boy, page 122:
- Gutters separated the sidewalk from the road on both sides and flowed with muddy water.2008, Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns:
- Along the gutter the rivulets of spring runoff cut a course to the storm sewer2011, Judith Duncan, Murphy's Child:
- No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.1892, Oscar Wilde, “Act III”, in Lady Windermere's Fan […] :
Synonyms of gutter
Forms of gutter
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | gutters |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | gutters |
| present participle | guttering |
| past participle | guttered |
| past | guttered |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more gutter |
| superlative | most gutter |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Gutters |
Origin of gutter
From Middle English gutter, guttur, goter, from Anglo-Norman guttere, from Old French goutiere (French gouttière), ultimately from Latin gutta (“drop”).
From gut + -er.
Words formed from gutter
- cum gutters
- get one's head out of the gutter
- get one's mind out of the gutter
- gutter ape
- gutter ball
- gutterball
- gutterblood
- gutter dog
- gutterdog
- gutter game
- gutter guard
- gutterless
- gutterlike
- gutter member
- guttermouth
- gutter mouth
- gutter oil
- gutter plane
- gutter press
- gutter punk
- gutter rabbit
- gutter rat
- guttersnipe
- guttersome
- gutter stick
- gutterwork
- gutter wound
- guttery
- rain gutter
- skite-the-gutter
- gutter out
Phrases with gutter
- gutter apes
- gutter dogs
- gutter balls
- gutter punks
- gutter guards
- gutter mouths
- gutter planes
- gutter sticks
- gutter wounds
- gutter members
- gutter presses
- gutter rabbits
8 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with gutter
Questions about gutter
- What does gutter mean?
- Gutter means a prepared channel in a surface, especially at the side of a road adjacent to a curb, intended for the drainage of water.
- What is gutter in Hindi?
- Gutter in Hindi is गटर (gaṭar), परनाला (parnālā), पनारा (panārā). See Gutter meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use gutter in a sentence?
- As Mike parked the vehicle, its right wheels sank into an unpaved gutter gradually worn irregular and deep by the rush of rainwater flowing down the street.
- What part of speech is gutter?
- Gutter can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce gutter?
- Gutter is pronounced /ˈɡʌt.ə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of gutter?
- The plural of gutter is gutters.
Words near gutter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gutter (page history and authors); Gutter (page history and authors); gutter (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gutter (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gutter (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gutter (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gutter (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gutter (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gutter.wav.
Cite this entry: “gutter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gutter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.