chinook

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a warm dry wind blowing down the eastern slopes of the Rockies
noun a member of an important North American Indian people who controlled the mouth of the Columbia river; they were organized into settlements rather than tribes
noun pink or white flesh of large Pacific salmon

Borrowed from Lower Chehalis c̓inúk (“the name of a Chinook village on the Columbia River”).

"My dear; the chinook is blowing up," said Kate. — Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922, L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery
Feng, understanding perfectly the curious mixture of pidgin and Chinook, vanished soft-footed. — Desert Conquest; or, Precious Waters, A. M. (Arthur Murray) Chisholm
Saturday the Twenty-seventh A warm Chinook has licked up the last of the snow. — The Prairie Wife, Arthur Stringer

chinook wind, snow eater

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