Chute

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ʃ(j)uːt/

Definitions

1. A declining pathway that allows for the swift transfer of materials or individuals from an elevated position to a lower one
2. A slanted conduit through which objects or people can descend efficiently from a higher level to a lower level
3. A steep channel or slope designed for quick downward movement ; a structure that guides or directs the movement of materials or liquid ; a foldable fabric device used for controlled descent during an emergency

Etymology: The noun "chute" has two separate histories that happen to have landed on the same spelling. The older one comes from French, where "chute" means a fall, from the verb "choir" (to fall), a line of descent that gives English words like "cadence" its sense of a falling tone. A chute in the sense of a sloping channel for sending goods or water downward inherits that idea of falling straight down. The fabric device has a shorter story. It is a clipping of "parachute," which itself joins the French "para-" (guarding against, as in "parapet") to "chute." Dropping the first half left the word that had always meant the fall itself, so the shortened form now names the canopy that stops one.

Synonyms: slide, shoot, tube