Crossword clues for coulee
coulee
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Coulee \Cou`lee"\ (k??`l?"), n. [F. coul['e]e, fr. couler to run or flow.] A stream; (Geol.) a stream of lava. Also, in the Western United States, the bed of a stream, even if dry, when deep and having inclined sides; distinguished from a ca[~n]on, which has precipitous sides. [1913 Webster] ||
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"deep ravine, seasonally flooded," 1804, a North American word, originally in areas explored by French trappers, from French coulée "flow" (17c.), from fem. past participle of couler "to flow," from Latin colare "to filter, strain" (see colander).
Wiktionary
n. 1 A stream. 2 (context geology English) A lava flow. 3 (context US English) A deep gulch or ravine, frequently dry in summer.
Gazetteer
Wikipedia
Coulee (or coulée) is applied rather loosely to different landforms, all of which refer to a kind of valley or drainage zone.
The word coulee comes from the Canadian French coulée, from the French word couler meaning "to flow".
The term is often used interchangeably in the Great Plains for any number of water features, from ponds to creeks.
In southern Louisiana the word coulée (also spelled coolie) originally meant a gully or ravine usually dry or intermittent but becoming sizable during rainy weather. As stream channels were dredged or canalized, the term was increasingly applied to perennial streams, generally smaller than bayous. The term is also used for small ditches or canals in the swamp.
Usage examples of "coulee".
A low-roofed gray gas-guzzler was parked by the coulee with three people inside.
The caravan passed through a black slum far out in the parish, crossed a bridge over a coulee, and turned down a shell road that led to a cluster of burial crypts in a cemetery by the bayou.
The window curtains were blowing in the wind, and the clouds above the swamp were as black as soot, heat lightning ballooning inside them, and I could smell a trash fire in a coulee and hear the hysterical shrieking sound of a nutria calling to its mate.
The sky was rain-washed and blue when I pulled into his drive and he was raking leaves out of his coulee, stacking them in a black pile for burning.
Monday afternoon Marvin Oates was pulling his suitcase on wheels down a rural road that traversed cattle acreage and pecan orchards, across a bridge that spanned a coulee lined with hardwoods and palmettos, past neat cottages with screened porches and shade trees.
Boudreau at the back of his property, under shade trees by the coulee, uncrating and assembling an irrigation pump.
Christmas lights, and crossed a coulee that was shaded by pecan trees and whose banks were green and raked clean and sprinkled with periwinkles.
Around mid-morning, he found himself at the lower end of a deep coulee that ran almost straight up the side of the mountain.
The floor of the coulee was littered with small boulders and dead brush that had washed down during heavy rains.
He recognized the coulee from his conversation with Joe Traywick the day before, though, and knew from what the ranch foreman had told him that this was the quickest and best way to the upper reaches of the mountain.
Riders moving through this coulee, especially if they were careful, would leave few if any tracks.
By the time he mounted again and rode another half mile or so, he was certain that a good-sized group of horsemen had ridden through this coulee several times recently.
That was when they both heard the sound of a rider making his slow but steady way up the coulee toward the little high country valley.
When they reached the upper end of the coulee, Molly paused and turned to give Longarm a brave smile.
The squatty-nosed jeep was well hidden, back from the road in a wide coulee, its dark green color blending in with thick-growing chokecherry bushes.