Channel

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: Chan=nel

CIDE DICTIONARY

Channel, n. [OE. chanel, canel, OF. chanel, F. chenel, fr. L. canalis. See Canal.].

•  The hollow bed where a stream of water runs or may run.  [1913 Webster]
•  The deeper part of a river, harbor, strait, etc., where the main current flows, or which affords the best and safest passage for vessels.  [1913 Webster]
•  A strait, or narrow sea, between two portions of lands; as, the British Channel.  [1913 Webster]
•  That through which anything passes; a means of passing, conveying, or transmitting; as, the news was conveyed to us by different channels.  [1913 Webster]

  "The veins are converging channels."  [1913 Webster]

  "At best, he is but a channel to convey to the National assembly such matter as may import that body to know."  [1913 Webster]
•  A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.  [1913 Webster]
•  Flat ledges of heavy plank bolted edgewise to the outside of a vessel, to increase the spread of the shrouds and carry them clear of the bulwarks.  [1913 Webster]
•  official routes of communication, especially the official means by which information should be transmitted in a bureaucracy; as, to submit a request through channels; you have to go through channels.  [PJC]
•  a band of electromagnetic wave frequencies that is used for one-way or two-way radio communication; especially, the frequency bands assigned by the FTC for use in television broadcasting, and designated by a specific number; as, channel 2 in New York is owned by CBS.  [PJC]
•  one of the signals in an electronic device which receives or sends more than one signal simultaneously, as in stereophonic radios, records, or CD players, or in measuring equipment which gathers multiple measurements simultaneously.  [PJC]
•  an opening in a cell membrane which serves to actively transport or allow passive transport of substances across the membrane; as, an ion channel in a nerve cell.  [PJC]
•  a path for transmission of signals between devices within a computer or between a computer and an external device; as, a DMA channel.  [PJC]

Channel bar, Channel iron (Arch.), an iron bar or beam having a section resembling a flat gutter or channel. -- Channel bill (Zoöl.), a very large Australian cuckoo (Scythrops Novæhollandiæ. -- Channel goose. (Zoöl.) See Gannet.

Channel, v. t. 

•  To form a channel in; to cut or wear a channel or channels in; to groove.  [1913 Webster]

  "No more shall trenching war channel her fields."  [1913 Webster]
•  To course through or over, as in a channel.  Cowper.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Channel, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a length of water wider than a strait, joining two larger areas, esp. seas. b (the Channel) the English Channel between Britain and France.
2 a medium of communication; an agency for conveying information (through the usual channels).
3 Broadcasting a a band of frequencies used in radio and television transmission, esp. as used by a particular station. b a service or station using this.
4 the course in which anything moves; a direction.
5 a a natural or artificial hollow bed of water. b the navigable part of a waterway.
6 a tubular passage for liquid.
7 Electronics a lengthwise strip on recording tape etc.
8 a groove or a flute, esp. in a column.
--v.tr. (channelled, channelling; US channeled, channeling)
1 guide, direct (channelled them through customs).
2 form channels in; groove.

Channel, n. Naut. any of the broad thick planks projecting horizontally from a ship's side abreast of the masts, used to widen the basis for the shrouds.

Etymology

for chain-wale: cf. gunnel for gunwale

THESAURUS

Channel

EDP, access, adolescent stream, adviser, aisle, alley, amateur band, ambulatory, announcer, annunciator, aperture, approach, approaches, aqueduct, arcade, arroyo, artery, authority, avenue, band, basin, beck, bed, bit, blowhole, bottleneck, bottom, bourn, braided stream, branch, brook, brooklet, burn, canal, canalization, canalize, carry, carve, chamfer, channelize, chisel, chute, citizens band, cloister, colonnade, communicant, communication, communication explosion, communication theory, communicator, conduct, conduit, connection, convey, corridor, corrugate, coulee, course, covered way, crack, creek, crick, crimp, cut, dado, data retrieval, data storage, debouch, decoding, defile, dike, direct, ditch, door, duct, egress, electronic data processing, emunctory, encoding, engrave, enlightener, entrenchment, entropy, escape, estuary, exhaust, exit, expert witness, fairway, ferry, floodgate, floor, flowing stream, flume, flute, fluviation, ford, fosse, frequency band, fresh, freshet, funnel, furrow, gallery, gash, gill, goffer, gossipmonger, gouge, grapevine, groove, ground, guide, gully, gutter, ha-ha, incise, informant, information center, information explosion, information medium, information theory, informer, inlet, interchange, intersection, interviewee, isthmus, junction, kennel, kill, lane, lazy stream, lead, loophole, meandering stream, means, medium, midchannel, midstream, millstream, moat, monitor, mouthpiece, moving road, narrow, narrows, navigable river, neck, newsmonger, noise, notifier, ocean bottom, opening, out, outcome, outfall, outgate, outgo, outlet, overpass, pass, passage, passageway, path, pipe, pipeline, pleat, plow, police band, pore, port, portico, press, public relations officer, publisher, put through, put through channels, rabbet, race, racing stream, radio, radio channel, railroad tunnel, redundancy, reporter, rifle, river, rivulet, road, run, rundle, runlet, runnel, rut, sally port, score, scratch, sea lane, seaway, ship route, shortwave band, signal, sike, siphon, slit, sluice, source, spill stream, spiracle, spokesman, spout, standard band, steamer track, strait, streak, stream, stream action, streamlet, striate, subterranean river, sunk fence, tap, television, teller, throat, tipster, tout, traject, trajet, transmit, trench, trough, tube, tunnel, underpass, vent, ventage, venthole, vomitory, wadi, watercourse, waterway, way, way out, weir, witness, wrinkle

ROGET THESAURUS

Channel

Method

N method, way, manner, wise, gait, form, mode, fashion, tone, guise, modus operandi, MO, procedure, path, road, route, course, line of way, line of road, trajectory, orbit, track, beat, tack, steps, stair, staircase, flight of stairs, ladder, stile, perron, bridge, footbridge, viaduct, pontoon, steppingstone, plank, gangway, drawbridge, pass, ford, ferry, tunnel, pipe, door, gateway, channel, passage, avenue, means of access, approach, adit, artery, lane, loan, alley, aisle, lobby, corridor, back-door, back-stairs, secret passage, covert way, vennel, roadway, pathway, stairway, express, thoroughfare, highway, turnpike, freeway, royal road, coach road, broad highway, King's highway, Queen's highway, beaten track, beaten path, horse road, bridle road, bridle track, bridle path, walk, trottoir, footpath, pavement, flags, sidewalk, crossroad, byroad, bypath, byway, cut, short cut carrefour, private road, occupation road, highways and byways, railroad, railway, tram road, tramway, towpath, causeway, canal, street, speedway, adv, how, in what way, in what manner, by what mode, so, in this way, after this fashion, one way or another, anyhow, somehow or other, by way of, via, in transitu, on the high road to, hae tibi erunt artes.

Furrow

N furrow, groove, rut, sulcus, scratch, streak, striae, crack, score, incision, slit, chamfer, fluting, corduroy road, cradle hole, channel, gutter, trench, ditch, dike, dyke, moat, fosse, trough, kennel, ravine, tajo, thank-ye-ma'am, furrowed, ribbed, striated, sulcated, fluted, canaliculated, bisulcous, bisulcate, bisulcated, canaliferous, trisulcate, corduroy, unisulcate, costate, rimiform.

Opening

N opening, hole, foramen, puncture, perforation, fontanel, transforation, pinhole, keyhole, loophole, porthole, peephole, mousehole, pigeonhole, eye of a needle, eyelet, slot, opening, aperture, apertness, hiation, yawning, oscitancy, dehiscence, patefaction, pandiculation, chasm, embrasure, window, casement, abatjour, light, sky light, fan light, lattice, bay window, bow window, oriel, dormer, lantern, outlet, inlet, vent, vomitory, embouchure, orifice, mouth, sucker, muzzle, throat, gullet, weasand, wizen, nozzle, placket, portal, porch, gate, ostiary, postern, wicket, trapdoor, hatch, door, arcade, cellarway, driveway, gateway, doorway, hatchway, gangway, lich gate, way, path, thoroughfare, channel, passage, passageway, tube, pipe, water pipe, air pipe, vessel, tubule, canal, gut, fistula, adjutage, ajutage, ostium, smokestack, chimney, flue, tap, funnel, gully, tunnel, main, mine, pit, adit, shaft, gallery, alley, aisle, glade, vista, bore, caliber, pore, blind orifice, fulgurite, thundertube, porousness, porosity, sieve, cullender, colander, cribble, riddle, screen, honeycomb, apertion, perforation, piercing, terebration, empalement, pertusion, puncture, acupuncture, penetration, key, opener, master key, password, combination, passe- partout, open, perforated, perforate, wide open, ajar, unclosed, unstopped, oscitant, gaping, yawning, patent, tubular, cannular, fistulous, pervious, permeable, foraminous, vesicular, vasicular, porous, follicular, cribriform, honeycombed, infundibular, riddled, tubulous, tubulated, piped, tubate, opening, aperient, Int, open sesame!.

Conduit

N conduit, channel, duct, watercourse, race, head race, tail race, abito, aboideau, aboiteau, bito, acequia, acequiador, acequiamadre, arroyo, adit, aqueduct, canal, trough, gutter, pantile, flume, ingate, runner, lock-weir, tedge, vena, dike, main, gully, moat, ditch, drain, sewer, culvert, cloaca, sough, kennel, siphon, piscina, pipe, funnel, tunnel, water pipe, waste pipe, emunctory, gully hole, artery, aorta, pore, spout, scupper, adjutage, ajutage, hose, gargoyle, gurgoyle, penstock, weir, flood gate, water gate, sluice, lock, valve, rose, waterworks, pipeline, vascular.