CHINOOK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Chinook

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/ʃɪnˈʊk/ /tʃˌɪnˈʊk/ Listen

noun

Chinook n.

(Ethnol.) One of a tribe of North American Indians now living in the state of Washington, noted for the custom of flattening their skulls. Chinooks also called Flathead Indians.

A warm westerly wind from the country of the Chinooks, sometimes experienced on the slope of the Rocky Mountains, in Montana and the adjacent territory.

A jargon of words from various languages (the largest proportion of which is from that of the Chinooks) generally understood by all the Indian tribes of the northwestern territories of the United States.

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Etymology of 'Chinook'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Chinook" Quotes from Famous Books

... boy, It'd wake a corpse to hear him hail 'Foretopsail yard ahoy!' He knew the ways o' squaresail and he knew the way to swear, He'd got the habit of it here and there and everywhere; He'd some samples from the Baltic and some more from Mozambique; Chinook and Chink and double-Dutch and Mexican and Greek; He'd a word or two in Russian, but he learned the best he'd got Off a pious preachin' skipper—and he had to use ...

— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, Jan. 15, 1919 • Various

... greeted this, for there was a terrible earnestness in his manner. Bill Brown and the chairman tried to make the Indian talk, but could not. A miner from British Columbia was pressed into service, but his Chinook made no impression. Then La Flitche was called. The handsome breed bent over the man and talked in gutturals which only his mother's heredity made possible. It sounded all one, yet it was apparent that he was trying many tongues. But no response did he draw, ...

— A Daughter of the Snows • Jack London

... rode boldly into the Indian village. About thirty chiefs were holding council. McClellan was led into the circle, and placed at the right hand of Saltese. He was familiar with the Chinook jargon, and could understand every word spoken in the council. Saltese made known the grievance of the tribes. Two Indians had been captured by a party of white pioneers and hanged for theft. Retaliation ...

— Pushing to the Front • Orison Swett Marden

... case you wasn't all burned up, I made up my mind I was going to give you a dance, and git you acquainted with folks. You needn't to hang back—I've told everybody it was in your honor, and that you played the vi'lin swell, and we'd have some real music. And I've sent to Chinook for the dance music—harp, two fiddles, and a coronet—and you ain't going to stall the hull thing now. I didn't mean to tell you till the last minute, but you've got to have time to mate up your mind you'll ...

— Lonesome Land • B. M. Bower

... with a catch in my throat, as my arms closed about him. And as he clung to me, with a forlorn sort of desperation, a soul-Chinook seemed to sweep up the cold fogs that had gathered and swung between us for so many months. I'd worried, in secret, about that fog. I'd tried to tell myself that it was the coming of the children that had made the difference, since a big strong man, naturally, had to take second ...

— The Prairie Mother • Arthur Stringer

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