Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A trough under the eaves of a building for draining water from the roof; gutter.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1813 eaves-trough, 1817 eave trough, 1870 eavestrough, from eave +‎ trough.

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Examples

  • When we had been safely lodged, at Midsummer, 1827, in the house with the gigantic roof and the wooden eavestrough, into which my father could easily lay his hand, this question immediately presented itself:

    The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12 Various

  • A sidewalk puddle that freezes after dark is hard to see and easy to slip on, while water spilling over an eavestrough during the day can cause large icicles overnight.

    Thestar.com - Home Page Jack Lakey 2011

  • Officials say the lightning may have hit the eavestrough, causing the two-alarm fire to spread through the top floor of a corner unit and an adjacent unit at 9468 and 9470 Sheppard Ave. near Meadowvale Rd.

    Thestar.com - Home Page Amanda Kwan 2011

  • It's also not a life of luxury: He operates a one-man window and eavestrough cleaning company six months of the year, working 12-hour days and living in a modestly furnished bachelor apartment.

    Thestar.com - Home Page Kim Pittaway 2011

  • Defence lawyer Peter Behr said Whiteside had no criminal record and had been working at a bakery and an eavestrough company.

    London Free Press 2010

  • • Extensions and splash pads were placed on eavestrough downspouts.

    Canadian Underwriter : Headline News 2009

  • The errors abound: the classification of maisonette into the British-American section is simply wrong, as I have encountered its use in real-estate advertising for several decades; the omission, from the BE section, of estate agent (for AE real estate agent); the equivalent given there of realtor, which is, in fact, Realtor, a registered title; the omission from the entry rock and rye of any mention of the large block of rock candy in the bottle (whence, of course, the rock); the inclusion of eavestrough??

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XII No 2 1985

  • It could start with a leaky eavestrough that ices up somebody else's walkway. "

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed 2009

  • "Rain barrels are used to catch water flowing from your eavestrough.

    Green Options 2009

  • Several entries that made the final cut involved words used in most of Canada — like “eavestrough,” for rain gutter, and “keener,” “a person, esp. a student, who is extremely eager, zealous or enthusiastic.”

    Katherine Barber, Who Defined Canadian English, Is Dead at 61 By 2021

Comments

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  • Like a gutter, but with a peerage.

    May 15, 2022