CHINOOK • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Chinook

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/ʃɪnˈʊk/ /tʃˌɪnˈʊk/ Listen

noun

Chinook n.

(Ethnol.) 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.

A warm westerly wind from the country of the Chinooks, sometimes experienced on the slope of the Rocky Mountains, in Montana and the adjacent territory.

A jargon of words from various languages (the largest proportion of which is from that of the Chinooks) generally understood by all the Indian tribes of the northwestern territories of the United States.

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Etymology of 'Chinook'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Chinook" Quotes from Famous Books

... boy, It'd wake a corpse to hear him hail 'Foretopsail yard ahoy!' He knew the ways o' squaresail and he knew the way to swear, He'd got the habit of it here and there and everywhere; He'd some samples from the Baltic and some more from Mozambique; Chinook and Chink and double-Dutch and Mexican and Greek; He'd a word or two in Russian, but he learned the best he'd got Off a pious preachin' skipper—and he had to ...

— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, Jan. 15, 1919 • Various

... while the other bent over his unaccustomed work. "We get all sorts. You can't figger anything this time of year, except it'll be a hell of a sight more cussed than when winter's shut down tight. I once knew a red hot chinook that turned the whole darn country into a swamp in April, and never let it freeze up again. I once broke trail at Fort Duggan at the start of May on open water with ...

— The Heart of Unaga • Ridgwell Cullum

... right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other nation; Marshall Islands claims Wake Island Climate: mostly temperate, but varies from tropical (Hawaii) to arctic (Alaska); arid to semiarid in west with occasional warm, dry chinook wind Terrain: vast central plain, mountains in west, hills and low mountains in east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska; rugged, volcanic topography in Hawaii Natural resources: coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, ...

— The 1992 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... the chinook began to blow, Anson sprang to his feet from his bunk, and standing erect in the early morning light, yelled: ...

— A Little Norsk; Or, Ol' Pap's Flaxen • Hamlin Garland

... night at the Echeloot or Upper Chinook village, which they had visited when coming down the river. You will remember that it was there they first saw wooden houses made by Indians. The explorers were treated as hospitably as before, but, as ...

— Deerfoot in The Mountains • Edward S. Ellis

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