Definition of "chinook" [chi•nook]

• A moist warm wind blowing from the sea in coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest. (noun)
• A warm dry wind that descends from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, causing a rapid rise in temperature. (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.

• "BELLY During the three to five years that the chinook is at sea, it feeds voraciously, building stores of fat to sustain it during its spawning run."
• "To distinguish a chinook from the closely related coho salmon, examine the gums on the lower jaw: Those of a chinook will be black; a coho's will be white."
• "These are called chinook winds, because they come from the direction of the country of the Chinook Indians."