Definition of "flume" []

• A narrow gorge, usually with a stream flowing through it. (noun)
• An open artificial channel or chute carrying a stream of water, as for furnishing power or conveying logs. (noun)
• A very small swimming pool designed with a propeller or pump to generate a current, allowing a swimmer to swim in place. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And that a flume is an open artificial water channel, that leads water from a diversion dam or weir completely aside a natural flow, often an elevated box structure (typically wood) that follows the natural contours of the land?"
• "He came to watch us train in what we call the flume but didn't get too involved, he just stood there taking it all in."
• "In this snow many of the shanties of the abandoned mining camp were obliterated (a sailor might have said they had gone down), and at irregular intervals it had overtopped the tall trestles which had once supported a river called a flume; for, of course, 'flume' is flumen."