flume
/fluːm/ noun, verb
Forms flumes fluming flumed
- noun A ravine or gorge, usually one with water running through.
- noun An open channel or trough used to direct or divert liquids, especially to carry materials (logs, mined material, etc) or people (as a water slide), especially (but not always) one where the walls are raised above the surrounding terrain rather than recessed like a ditch.
- verb (transitive) To transport (logs of wood) by floating them along a water-filled channel or trough.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English flum, from Old French flum, flun, from Latin flumen, from fluere (“to flow”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A stream; especially, a passage channel, or conduit for the water that drives a mill wheel; or an artifical channel of water for hydraulic or placer mining; also, a chute for conveying logs or lumber down a declivity.
Etymology [Cf. OE. flum river, OF, flum, fr. L. flumen, fr. fluere to flow. *84. See Fluent.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “flume”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details