Also 9 shute. [Here there appears to be a mixture of the F. chute fall (of water, descent of a canal lock, etc.), and Eng. SHOOT. The former appears to have been adopted in North America in sense 1, and the application gradually extended to include senses which originate with SHOOT, and are still commonly so spelt in England.]
1. A fall of water; a rapid descent in a river, or steep channel by which water escapes from a higher to a lower level.
[1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 287. Gulleys or channels … where, upon hasty rains, great shoots of water had been used to run.]
1847. Longf., Ev., II. ii. 15. They swept with the current—Now through rushing chutes among green islands.
1884. J. A. Butler, in Harper’s Mag., June, 116/1. We dropped down a glassy chute into an extensive basin.
2. A sloping channel or passage for the conveyance of water, or of things floating in water, to a lower level; in North America, an opening in a river dam for the descent of logs, etc.
[1808. A. Parsons, Trav. Asia, xi. 241. At this place the ships are supplied with water … conveyed into the boats by shutes made on purpose.]
1878. Lumberman’s Gaz., 18 Dec., 426. The gates [of the dam] are opened, the logs are run through the chute, and sufficient water is furnished to carry them below. Ibid. (1880), 1 Jan., 28. The rafts … at Ottawa, are guided through a ‘slide’ or ‘chute’ to the mills where they belong.
1881. Standard, 22 Jan., 5/1. If the winter is mild the logs cannot be ‘hauled’ from the ‘stump’ to ‘the shoot’ on the river bank.
3. A steep channel or enclosed passage down which ore, coal, grain, or the like is ‘shot,’ so as to reach a receptacle, wagon, etc., below. In England, usually shoot.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Chute, A channel or shaft underground, or an inclined trough above ground, through which ore falls or is ‘shot’ by gravity from a higher to a lower level.
1882. Pidgeon, Engineer’s Holiday, I. 271. The rattle of the pumps, and heavy falls of ore in the chutes.
1883. Stevenson, Silverado Sq., 81. A rusty iron chute on wooden legs came flying like a monstrous gargoyle across the parapet.
4. The steep slope of a spoil-bank beside a quarry or mine, down which rubbish is shot; also, a steep slope for tobogganing.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 28 Aug., 2/1. Most of the inscriptions found at Assos were in the chutes of earth beneath this part of the Agora, the blocks evidently having been thrown down during the troubles of the city.
1888. Detroit Free Press, 7 Jan. Last winter there weren’t half enough toboggan chutes to accommodate the people.
1888. Pall Mall Gaz., 3 Sept., 13/2. Marine Tobogganing…. The artificial slope rises from high water mark to the height of 32 ft. above it…. The chute is 178 feet long.
5. In Isle of Wight, a steep cutting affording a passage from the surface above a cliff to the lower undercliff ground. Also spelt shute, shoot.
1847–78. Halliwell, Chute, Shoot, a steep hilly road. I. Wight.
1879. Jenkinson, Guide I. of Wight, 94. A branch road ascends the cliff by what is known as the St. Lawrence or Whitwell Shute.
Hence Chute v., to send down through a chute.
1884. E. Ingersoll, in Harper’s Mag., May, 872/1. Logs … are often chuted down from the lofty ridges directly into the water.
