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
Platte River State Fish Hatchery: Atlantic, Chinook and Coho salmon.
—Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 13 Aug. 2025
Most alarmingly, fry mortality for winter-run Chinook between 2020 and 2021 reached almost 50%.
—Calista Oetama, Sacbee.com, 6 Aug. 2025
Then there is the key environmental issue involving the movements of Coho and Chinook Salmon between July and November.
—Jim Woods, Chicago Tribune, 24 July 2025
What To Know The Joint Task Force-Bravo of the U.S. Southern Command deployed three helicopters—two UH-60 Black Hawk and one CH-47 Chinook aircraft—for the exercise, which took place at three air bases in Panama, according to the National Aeronaval Service of Panama.
—Ryan Chan, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for Chinook
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 13 Aug. 2025
Most alarmingly, fry mortality for winter-run Chinook between 2020 and 2021 reached almost 50%.
—Calista Oetama, Sacbee.com, 6 Aug. 2025
Then there is the key environmental issue involving the movements of Coho and Chinook Salmon between July and November.
—Jim Woods, Chicago Tribune, 24 July 2025
What To Know The Joint Task Force-Bravo of the U.S. Southern Command deployed three helicopters—two UH-60 Black Hawk and one CH-47 Chinook aircraft—for the exercise, which took place at three air bases in Panama, according to the National Aeronaval Service of Panama.
—Ryan Chan, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for Chinook
Cite this Entry
“Chinook.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Chinook. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share