n. The bed of a stream of water; the hollow or course in which a stream flows.n. The deeper part of a river, or of an estuary, bay, etc., where the current flows, or which is most convenient for the track of a ship.n. As specifically applied in certain cases: A part of the sea constituting a passageway between a continent and an island, or between two islands; a strait: as, the English channel, between France and England, leading to the strait of Dover; St. George's channel, between Great Britain and Ireland, leading to the Irish sea; the Mozambique channel. A wide arm of the sea extending a considerable distance inland: as, Bristol channel in England.n. That by which something passes or is transmitted; means of passing, conveying, transmitting, reaching, or gaining: as, the news was conveyed to us by different channels; channels of influence.n. The trough used to conduct molten metal from a furnace to the molds.n. A furrow or groove.n. Specifically— The cut or depression in the sole of a shoe in which the thread is sunk. A groove cut in a stone in the line along which it is to be split. In architecture, one of a series of shallow vertical curved furrows, of elliptical section, of which each is separated from that adjoining only by a sharp edge or arris. The channel is distinguished from the flute, of which the section is an arc of a circle, and is a characteristic feature of shafts of the Doric order.n. The wind-pipe; the throat.n. The hollow between the two nether jaw-bones of a horse, where the tongue is lodged.To form or cut a channel or channels in; groove.n. In ship-building, a plank of considerable thickness bolted edgewise to a vessel's side, nearly abreast of a mast, and serving to extend the shrouds of the lower rigging and keep them clear of the gunwale, the chain-plates being carried through notches on its outer edge. Also called chain-wale and channel-board.n. Gravel.n. A tubular passage or duct, such as the pancreatic duct, for liquids or fluids: as, the poison channel of a snake's fangs. Sometimes called canal.