coulee

Plural: coulees

Noun

• A small, steep-sided ravine or gully.
• A stream, especially one in the western US or Canada, generally smaller than a bayou; it may (or may not) run dry in summer, may be sluggish, shallow, and wide (forming in effect a pond or slough), or may have cut a deep gulch or ravine.
• A reach of water in a bayou that is like a slough but deeper.
• A lava flow (whether molten or solidified).

Examples

• The words flowed down the board into a coulee of low-scoring letters.

Related Words

coulis