a warm dry southwesterly wind blowing down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
2. Also called: wet chinook
a warm moist wind blowing onto the Washington and Oregon coasts from the sea
Word origin
C19: from Salish c'inuk
Chinook in British English
(tʃɪˈnuːk, -ˈnʊk)
noun
1. Word forms: plural-nook or -nooks
a Native American people of the Pacific coast near the Columbia River
2.
the language of this people, probably forming a separate branch of the Penutian phylum
Chinook in American English
(ʃɪˈnuk, -ˈnuːk, tʃɪ-)
nounWord forms: plural-nooks or esp collectively -nook
1.
a member of a formerly numerous Native American people originally inhabiting the northern shore of the mouth of the Columbia River and the adjacent territory
2.
either of the two languages of the Chinook people
Compare Lower Chinook, Upper Chinook
3. (lc)
a warm, dry wind that blows at intervals down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
4. (lc) See chinook salmon
5.
a U.S. Army cargo helicopter in service since 1962
Word lists with
chinook
North American Languages, Native American tribes, wind
All related terms of 'chinook'
wet chinook
a warm dry southwesterly wind blowing down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
Lower Chinook
an extinct Chinookan language that was spoken by tribes on both banks of the Columbia River estuary
Upper Chinook
a Chinookan language of the Columbia River valley from the Deschutes River to the estuary
Chinook Jargon
a pidgin language containing elements of Native American languages, English, and French: formerly used among fur traders and indigenous people on the NW coast of North America
Chinook salmon
a Pacific salmon , Oncorhynchus tschawytscha, valued as a food fish