Definition of "channel"

channel¹

/ˈt͡ʃænəl/

noun
plural channels
1. The physical confine of a river or slough, consisting of a bed and banks.
2. The natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar, bay, or any shallow body of water.
  Quotations
  European adventurers found themselves within a watery world, a tapestry of streams, channels, wetlands, lakes and lush riparian meadows enriched by floodwaters from the Mississippi River.
  2013 January, Nancy Langston, “The Fraught History of a Watery World”, in American Scientist‎, volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 22 January 2013, page 59
3. The navigable part of a river.
4. A narrow body of water between two land masses.
  Quotations
  Our citizens and our businesses on both sides of the channel need more security and predictability for the future
  2018 May 14, Jon Stone in Brussels, The Independent‎
5. Something through which another thing passes; a means of conveying or transmitting.
  Quotations
  But I write to tell you what you will hear through all the various channels by which news travels,...
  1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), pages 69–70
  The veins are converging channels.
  1859, John Call Dalton, A Treatise on Human Physiology
  At best, he is but a channel to convey to the National Assembly such matter as may import that body to know.
  1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […]
6. (biochemistry) An ion channel: pore-forming proteins located in a cell membrane that allow specific ions to pass through.
7. A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.
8. (construction, mechanical engineering) A structural member with a cross section shaped like a squared-off letter C.
  Quotations
  The channel is not very efficient as a beam or column when used alone, but built-up members may be constructed of channels assembled together with other structural shapes and connected by rivets or welds.
  1960, “Structural Shapes”, in Construction Materials, Concrete Construction, and Engineer Computations, U.S. Government Printing Office
9. (electronics) A connection between initiating and terminating nodes of a circuit.
10. (electronics) The narrow conducting portion of a MOSFET transistor.
11. (communication) The part that connects a data source to a data sink.
12. (communication) A path for conveying electrical or electromagnetic signals, usually distinguished from other parallel paths.
13. (communication) A single path provided by a transmission medium via physical separation, such as by multipair cable.
14. (communication) A single path provided by a transmission medium via spectral or protocol separation, such as by frequency or time-division multiplexing.
15. (broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies, usually in conjunction with a predetermined letter, number, or codeword, and allocated by international agreement.
16. (broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies used for transmitting television.
  Quotations
  TV back then was five channels (three networks, PBS, and an independent station that ran I Love Lucy reruns), […]
  2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xi
17. (storage) The portion of a storage medium, such as a track or a band, that is accessible to a given reading or writing station or head.
18. The part of a turbine pump where the pressure is built up.
19. (business, marketing) A distribution channel
20. (Internet) A particular area for conversations on an IRC or similar network, analogous to a chat room and often dedicated to a specific topic.
  Quotations
  The excerpt in Figure 1 below shows a list of some channel names as they appear to an IRC user. The left hand column displays the channel name, the middle column displays how many people are currently on the channel, and the right hand column indicates the theme of the channel or the current topic of conversation: […]
  1996, Susan C. Herring, Computer-mediated Communication, page 50
21. (Internet, historical) A means of delivering up-to-date Internet content via a push mechanism.
  Quotations
  Netcaster is the "receiver" for channels that are built into Netscape 4.01 and later releases.
  1999, Jeffrey S Rule, Dynamic HTML: The HTML Developer's Guide
  To access channels in Windows 98, you don't have to go any farther than your desktop.
  1999, Margaret Levine Young, Internet: The Complete Reference
22. A psychic or medium who temporarily takes on the personality of somebody else.

channel²

/ˈt͡ʃænəl/

verb
third-person singular simple present channels, present participle channeling or channelling, simple past and past participle channelled or channeled
1. (transitive) To make or cut a channel or groove in.
2. (transitive) To direct or guide along a desired course.
3. (transitive, of a spirit, as of a dead person) To serve as a medium for.
4. (transitive) To follow as a model, especially in a performance.

channel³

/ˈt͡ʃænəl/

noun
plural channels
1. (nautical) The wale of a sailing ship which projects beyond the gunwale and to which the shrouds attach via the chains. One of the flat ledges of heavy plank bolted edgewise to the outside of a vessel, to increase the spread of the shrouds and carry them clear of the bulwarks.

Definition of "channel"

channel1

noun

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channel2

verb

channel3

noun

channel¹

channel²

channel³