coulee

/ˈkuli/

Other forms: coulees

A coulee is a gully, stream, or ravine that's full of water. Bring your waterproof boots for the hike — the valley is full of coulees!

The meaning of coulee varies regionally. In some places, a coulee is a flowing stream of volcanic lava. In the northwestern U.S. and Canada, it's a kind of trench or trough that fills with rainwater, but in the Midwest people might call any small body of water a coulee. And in Louisiana, it's spelled coulée. The word is North American in origin, from a French root meaning "to flow," and it was first used by 17th-century French trappers and explorers.

Definitions of coulee

1. noun

   a stream of molten lava or a sheet of solidified lava
2. noun

   a seasonally flooded ravine (a term used mainly in Western U.S. and Canada)