Channel - Definition

n 1: a path over which electrical signals can pass; "a channel
is typically what you rent from a telephone company" [syn:
channel, transmission channel]
2: a passage for water (or other fluids) to flow through; "the
fields were crossed with irrigation channels"; "gutters
carried off the rainwater into a series of channels under the
street"
3: a long narrow furrow cut either by a natural process (such as
erosion) or by a tool (as e.g. a groove in a phonograph
record) [syn: groove, channel]
4: a deep and relatively narrow body of water (as in a river or
a harbor or a strait linking two larger bodies) that allows
the best passage for vessels; "the ship went aground in the
channel"
5: (often plural) a means of communication or access; "it must
go through official channels"; "lines of communication were
set up between the two firms" [syn: channel, communication
channel, line]
6: a bodily passage or tube lined with epithelial cells and
conveying a secretion or other substance; "the tear duct was
obstructed"; "the alimentary canal"; "poison is released
through a channel in the snake's fangs" [syn: duct,
epithelial duct, canal, channel]
7: a television station and its programs; "a satellite TV
channel"; "surfing through the channels"; "they offer more
than one hundred channels" [syn: channel, television
channel, TV channel]
8: a way of selling a company's product either directly or via
distributors; "possible distribution channels are wholesalers
or small retailers or retail chains or direct mailers or your
own stores" [syn: distribution channel, channel]
v 1: transmit or serve as the medium for transmission; "Sound
carries well over water"; "The airwaves carry the sound";
"Many metals conduct heat" [syn: impart, conduct,
transmit, convey, carry, channel]
2: direct the flow of; "channel information towards a broad
audience" [syn: channel, canalize, canalise]
3: send from one person or place to another; "transmit a
message" [syn: transmit, transfer, transport,
channel, channelize, channelise]