Definition of Chinook

1. Noun. A warm dry wind blowing down the eastern slopes of the Rockies.

Exact synonyms: Chinook Wind, Snow Eater
Generic synonyms: Air Current, Current Of Air, Wind

2. Noun. A member of an important North American Indian people who controlled the mouth of the Columbia river; they were organized into settlements rather than tribes.
Generic synonyms: Penutian

3. Noun. Pink or white flesh of large Pacific salmon.
Exact synonyms: Chinook Salmon, King Salmon
Group relationships: Chinook Salmon, King Salmon, Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha, Quinnat Salmon
Generic synonyms: Salmon

4. Noun. A Penutian language spoken by the Chinook.
Exact synonyms: Chinookan
Generic synonyms: Penutian

5. Noun. Large Pacific salmon valued as food; adults die after spawning.

Definition of Chinook

1. n. One of a tribe of North American Indians now living in the state of Washington, noted for the custom of flattening their skulls. Chinooks also called Flathead Indians.

Definition of Chinook

1. Proper noun. (uncountable) A Native American language of the Penutian family of Oregon and Washington. ¹

2. Noun. (Canada physics meteorology) The descending, warm, dry wind on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. The chinook generally blows from the southwest, but its direction may be modified by topography. When it sets in after a spell of intense cold, the temperature may rise by 20°F to 40°F in 15 minutes due to replacement of a cold air mass with a much warmer air mass in minutes. ¹

3. Noun. The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tschawytscha''), also called the king salmon, Quinnat salmon, spring salmon and Tyee salmon: the largest species in the Pacific salmon family. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Chinook

1. a warm wind [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Chinook

chinnier
chinning
chinning bar
chinny
chino
chino cloth
chinoidine
chinois
chinoiserie
chinoiseries
chinoleine
chinoline
chinolines
chinone
chinones
chinook
chinook salmon
chinook wind
chinooks
chinos
chinquapin
chinquapin oak
chinquapins
chinrest
chinrests
chins
chinse
chinsed
chinses
chinsing

Literary usage of Chinook

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Totem Tales: Indian Stories Indian Told, Gathered in the Pacific Northwest by Walter Shelley Phillips (1896)
"Chinook word meaning yes. Oke-oke (0-koke).—Chinook 'word meaning either that or this, according to the way it is used and the motion that accompanies it. ..."

2. ... The Native Races: Of the Pacific States by Hubert Howe Bancroft (1886)
"THE Chinook FAMILY—GRAMMAR OF THE Chinook LANGUAGE—AZTEC AFFINITIES—TUB Chinook JARGON. RETURNED from the south, whither we were led by the Apache branch of ..."

3. A General Catalogue of Books Offered to the Public at the Affixed Prices by by Bernard Quaritch (Firm) (1886)
"Y. 1863 300t>4 GIBBS (G.) Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, or Trade Language of Oregon, ... Linguistics. A Chinook-English and English-Chinook Vocabulary. ..."

4. The Big Game Fishes of the United States: A Collection of Critical Essays by Charles Burton Martin, Viktor Aleksandrovich Maksunov, Charles Frederick Holder, Amiya Chandra Chakravarty, David Malet Armstrong (1903)
"Here, or in the adjacent waters, is the true home of the chinook 1 This explanation of the leap of the salmon was entertained by some writers within the ..."

5. Songs of the Trail by Henry Herbert Knibbs (1920)
"(To ET) Chinook, you're free; there's plenty pasture there: Your gallant years ... Chinook, they did n't know you as a colt: We were some young and wild ..."

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