Definition of "gutter"

gutter¹

/ˈɡʌt.ə/

noun
plural gutters
1. A prepared channel in a surface, especially at the side of a road adjacent to a curb, intended for the drainage of water.
  Quotations
  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] street
  1836, Charles F. Partington, “Paris”, in The British Cyclopaedia of Literature, History, Geography, Law and Politics‎, page 202
  Lord Darlington. 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 […] ‎
2. A ditch along the side of a road.
  Quotations
  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
  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
  Meltwater gathered in the icy ruts of the unpaved road, the pressure wearing thin channels in the packed snow. Along the gutter the rivulets of spring runoff cut a course to the storm sewer
  2011, Judith Duncan, Murphy's Child‎
3. A duct or channel beneath the eaves of a building to carry rain water; eavestrough.
4. (bowling) A groove down the sides of a bowling lane.
5. A large groove (commonly behind animals) in a barn used for the collection and removal of animal excrement.
6. Any narrow channel or groove, such as one formed by erosion in the vent of a gun from repeated firing.
7. (typography) A space between printed columns of text.
8. (printing) One of a number of pieces of wood or metal, grooved in the centre, used to separate the pages of type in a form.
9. (philately) An unprinted space between rows of stamps.
10. (Britain) A drainage channel.
11. The notional locus of things, acts, or events which are distasteful, ill bred or morally questionable.
12. (figuratively) A low, vulgar state.
13. (comics) The spaces between comic book panels.
verb
third-person singular simple present gutters, present participle guttering, simple past and past participle guttered
1. To flow or stream; to form gutters.
2. (of a candle) To melt away by having the molten wax run down along the side of the candle.
3. (of a small flame) To flicker as if about to be extinguished.
4. (transitive) To send (a bowling ball) into the gutter, not hitting any pins.
5. (transitive) To supply with a gutter or gutters.
  Quotations
  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, […]
6. (transitive) To cut or form into small longitudinal hollows; to channel.
  Quotations
  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 Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]
7. (transitive, uncommon) To make worse; to show emphasis that something has gotten worse.

gutter²

/ˈɡʌt.ə/

noun
plural gutters
1. One who or that which guts.
  Quotations
  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

Definition of "gutter"

gutter1

noun

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verb

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gutter2

noun

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gutter¹

gutter²