gutter

noun

1. A prepared channel in a surface, especially at the side of a road adjacent to a curb, intended for the drainage of water.

   “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”

2. A ditch along the side of a road.

   “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.”

   “‘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.[…]’”

   “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.”

   “Gutters separated the sidewalk from the road on both sides and flowed with muddy water.”

   “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”

3. A duct or channel beneath the eaves of a building to carry rain water; eavestrough.

   “The gutters must be cleared of leaves a few times a year.”

4. A groove down the sides of a bowling lane.

   “You can decide to use the bumpers to avoid the ball going down the gutter every time.”

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. A space between printed columns of text.
8. 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. An unprinted space between rows of stamps.
10. (British)A drainage channel.
11. The notional locus of things, acts, or events that are distasteful, ill-bred, or morally questionable.

    “Nosei (Löwensohn): This is Tom and Cynthia Kruger. / Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright): I heard. / Nosei: This is Jean-Michel Basquiat. / Tom Kruger (Chuck Pfeiffer): Hi. / Nosei: You've seen the SAMO graffiti everywhere – that's his. This is the true voice of the gutter.”

12. (figuratively)A low, vulgar state.

    “Get your mind out of the gutter.”

    “What kind of gutter language is that? I ought to wash your mouth out with soap.”

    “Lord Darlington. No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

13. A space between comic strip panels.
14. One who or that which guts.

    “A Galilean Rabbi? When did this Province of diggers in dirt and gutters of fish send forth Rabbis? Thou makest a jest.”

    “An old, rusty coat hanger made a rudimentary fish-gutter.”

verb

1. To flow or stream; to form gutters.
2. To melt away by having the molten wax run down along the side of the candle.
3. To flicker as if about to be extinguished.

   “The light in his eyes guttered like a candle in a mighty wind and finally went out. She had no time to grieve[…]”

   “Alex's eyes gutter, and his face goes cold. He stands there mutely through my apology, stiff and frozen. I want to touch him, but I'm scared he'll flinch away.”

4. (transitive)To send (a bowling ball) into the gutter, not hitting any pins.
5. (transitive)To supply with a gutter or gutters.

   “A narrow flooring, guttered, walled, and tiled.”

6. (transitive)To cut or form into small longitudinal hollows; to channel.

   “The gutter'd-Rockes, and Congregated Sands,”

7. (intransitive, uncommon)To worsen considerably.

   “The students' performance guttered after the school event.”

   “The patient's state would soon gutter.”

adj

1. (derogatory, figuratively, informal)Vulgar, sordid, or low-class.

   “The "greatest" controversy came when Farrakhan was accused of calling Judaism a "gutter religion". Farrakhan says he never used the word "gutter."”

name

1. A surname.