plural Chinook or Chinooks
1
: a member of an Indigenous people of the north shore of the Columbia River at its mouth
2
: a Chinookan language of the Chinook and other nearby peoples
3
or less commonly chinook
a
: a warm moist southwest wind of the coast from Oregon northward
b
: a warm dry wind that descends the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
4
5
: any of a rare breed of large, muscular dogs that were developed in New Hampshire in the early 1900s as sled and working dogs and have a yellow, reddish-yellow, or yellowish-brown coat and calm temperament
Among the dogs he [Arthur Treadwell Walden] used for breeding the Chinook were descendants of Admiral Peary's Greenland expedition huskies, along with mastiff-types.—
John Nolan
John NolanExamples of Chinook in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
For the first time in 112 years, Chinook salmon are swimming freely in the Klamath Basin in Oregon.
—Alexa Robles-Gil, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2024
On that note, here’s what’s happening around the West:
TOP STORIES
From my colleague, Ian James, comes this happy and amazing story of what can happen when conservation strategies succeed: Klamath River Chinook salmon have been spotted in Oregon for the first time in more than a century.
—Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2024
More than 300 emergency airlift operations have been completed using helicopters from private businesses, individuals, and nonprofit organizations, as well as two Chinook helicopters from the Army National Guard.
—Emily Hallas, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 20 Oct. 2024
These five are chum, sockeye, Chinook, Coho, and pink - with pink being the smallest and most abundant species and Chinook being the largest and least abundant, per the Pacific Salmon Foundation.
—Daryl Austin, USA TODAY, 11 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for Chinook 
Alexa Robles-Gil, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2024
On that note, here’s what’s happening around the West:
TOP STORIES
From my colleague, Ian James, comes this happy and amazing story of what can happen when conservation strategies succeed: Klamath River Chinook salmon have been spotted in Oregon for the first time in more than a century.
—Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2024
More than 300 emergency airlift operations have been completed using helicopters from private businesses, individuals, and nonprofit organizations, as well as two Chinook helicopters from the Army National Guard.
—Emily Hallas, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 20 Oct. 2024
These five are chum, sockeye, Chinook, Coho, and pink - with pink being the smallest and most abundant species and Chinook being the largest and least abundant, per the Pacific Salmon Foundation.
—Daryl Austin, USA TODAY, 11 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for Chinook
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Chinook.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Chinook.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Chinook. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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