gutter
Definitions
General English
- noun the side of a road where water can flow
- noun an open pipe under the edge of a roof for catching rain
Cars & Driving
- noun a channel at the edge of a road to carry away rainwater
Computing
- noun a blank space or inner margin between two facing pages
Construction
- A shallow channel of wood, metal, or PVC positioned just below and following along the eaves of a building for the purpose of collecting and diverting water from a roof.
- In electrical wiring, the rectangular space allowed around the interior of an electrical panel for the installation of feeder and branch wiring conductors.
Information & Library Science
- noun the inside margin between two pages of type.
Marketing
- noun the area where the two pages meet in a book or magazine. It can be left blank as a centre margin, or can be printed across to form a double-page spread.
Media Studies
- noun the fold between the two pages in the centre spread of a magazine or newspaper
Real Estate
- noun a metal or plastic channel fixed to the eaves of a roof for carrying away rainwater
- noun a channel at the edge of a road that carries water into a drain
Origin & History of “gutter”
Etymologically, a gutter is something along which ‘drops’ of water run. Its distant ancestor is Latin gutta ‘drop’ (source also of English gout). From it was formed the vulgar Latin derivative *guttāria, which passed into English via Anglo-Norman gotere. The use of the word as a verb, meaning (of a flame) ‘flicker on the point of going out’, comes from the channel, or ‘gutter’, formed down one side of a candle by the melted wax flowing away.
