chinook

/tʃəˈnʊk/

Other forms: chinooks

A chinook is a very big fish, a type of salmon that's found in the Pacific Ocean. Chinooks are also known as "king salmon."

In addition to the giant salmon that's commonly fished from Alaska to California, the word chinook is also used for a particular type of wind. This meteorological chinook is a warm, dry wind that blows down from a mountain range during the end of the winter season. Both types of chinook are named for the Chinook people, a Pacific Northwest indigenous group.

Definitions of chinook

1. noun

   large Pacific salmon valued as food; adults die after spawning
   synonyms: Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, chinook salmon, king salmon, quinnat salmon

   type of:

   salmon

   any of various large food and game fishes of northern waters; usually migrate from salt to fresh water to spawn
2. noun

   pink or white flesh of large Pacific salmon
   synonyms: chinook salmon, king salmon

   type of:

   salmon

   flesh of any of various marine or freshwater fish of the family Salmonidae
3. noun

   a warm dry wind blowing down the eastern slopes of the Rockies
   synonyms: chinook wind, snow eater

   type of:

   air current, current, current of air, wind

   air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure