Channel

[Fr. canal, from Lat. canal is, from canna, a pipe or reed.] A pipe or spout for the conveyance of water The hollow bed of running waters; the deeper part of a stream, bay, or harbor, where the main stream flows; as, the channel of a river. (Geog.) A strait or narrow sea; as, the Bahama chan nel. -Means of pa ing, conveying, or transmitting; as, a channel of communication. ( Arch .) A perpendicular furrow, cut along the shaft of a column or pilaster. -( pl .) ( Naut . ) Projecting wooden platforms jutting out from the ship's sides opposite to the masts. They serve to keep the chains and shrouds distant from the ship's side, thereby preventing chafing against the gunwale, and enabling the shrouds to impart a firmer support to the masts. -. α. To form into a channel; to cut channels in; to groove. "Roll down the lofty mountain's channel'd sides."-Black more. Chan'nel, (English,) that arm of the Atlantic Ocean which divides England from France, gradually narrowing to the Strait of Dover, often called simply the "Channel." It was the Mare Britannicum of the ancients.The Channel Islands are a group of small islands, lying off the N.W. coast of France, and belonging to Great Britain. The principal are Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark , q. v. Total area, 48,000 a. Chan'nel-leaved, a. ( Bot.) Having leaves folded together in a channelled form.