chinook
chinook Lexical Profile
chinook Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American A warm, dry wind that blows down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in winter or early spring, often causing a rapid rise in temperature and melting snow.
"A sudden chinook swept across southern Alberta, raising temperatures by twenty degrees in just a few hours."
North American The largest species of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), native to the North Pacific Ocean and the river systems of western North America and northeastern Asia, highly prized as a food and game fish.
"Anglers gathered along the river mouth hoping to catch a prized chinook during the autumn run."
North American A member of an Indigenous people traditionally inhabiting the lower Columbia River valley and adjacent coastal regions of present-day Washington and Oregon.
"The Chinook established extensive trade networks along the Columbia River long before European contact."
North American Any of the Chinookan languages historically spoken by the Chinook peoples of the Pacific Northwest, or the Chinook Jargon, a pidgin trade language formerly used across the region.
"Linguists documented vocabulary from both traditional Chinook and the regional trade jargon."
• Rhymes for chinook
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the 19th century via Canadian French from Lower Chehalis (Salishan) Tsinúk, the name of a village and its people along the lower Columbia River. The meteorological sense arose because early settlers believed the warm winter winds blew from the direction of Chinook territory.