noun, plural Chi·nooks, (especially collectively) Chi·nook.
- a member of a formerly numerous North American Indian people originally inhabiting the northern shore of the mouth of the Columbia River and the adjacent territory.
- either of the two languages of the Chinook Indians.Compare Lower Chinook, Upper Chinook.
- (lowercase) a warm, dry wind that blows at intervals down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
- (lowercase) chinook salmon.
- a U.S. Army cargo helicopter in service since 1962 and capable of ferrying 12 tons of supplies and troops.
noun
- Also called: snow eater a warm dry southwesterly wind blowing down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
- Also called: wet chinook a warm moist wind blowing onto the Washington and Oregon coasts from the sea
noun
- plural -nook or -nooks a Native American people of the Pacific coast near the Columbia River
- the language of this people, probably forming a separate branch of the Penutian phylum
name for a group of related native people in the Columbia River region of Washington and Oregon, from Salishan /činuk/, name of a village site. Name also extended to a type of salmon (1851) and warm spring wind. Chinook jargon was a mishmash of native (Chinook and Nootka), French, and English words; it once was lingua franca in the Pacific Northwest, and it is the earliest attested use of the word (1840).
- A moist, warm wind blowing from the sea in coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest.
- A warm, dry wind descending from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, causing a rapid rise in temperature. These winds often melt snow quite rapidly, at times at a rate of up to a foot per hour. See also foehn.