Chan"nel (chăn"n&ebreve;l), n. [OE. chanel, canel, OF. chanel, F. chenel, fr. L. canalis. See Canal.] 1. The hollow bed where a stream of water runs or may run.

2. The deeper part of a river, harbor, strait, etc., where the main current flows, or which affords the best and safest passage for vessels.

3. (Geog.) A strait, or narrow sea, between two portions of lands; as, the British Channel.

4. That through which anything passes; means of passing, conveying, or transmitting; as, the news was conveyed to us by different channels.

The veins are converging channels.
Dalton.

At best, he is but a channel to convey to the National assembly such matter as may import that body to know.
Burke.

5. A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.

6. pl. [Cf. Chain wales.] (Naut.) Flat ledges of heavy plank bolted edgewise to the outside of a vessel, to increase the spread of the shrouds and carry them clear of the bulwarks.

Chan"nel, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Channeled (?), or Channelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Channeling, or Channelling.] 1. To form a channel in; to cut or wear a channel or channels in; to groove.

No more shall trenching war channel her fields.
Shak.

2. To course through or over, as in a channel. Cowper.

• The physical confine of a river or slough, consisting of a bed and banks.
        The water coming out of the waterwheel created a a standing wave in the channel.
  
• The natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar, bay, or any shallow body of water.
        A channel was dredged to allow ocean-going vessels to reach the city.
  
• The navigable part of a river.
        We were careful to keep our boat in the channel.
  
• A narrow body of water between two land masses.
        The English Channel lies between France and England.
  
• (electronics) A connection between initiating and terminating nodes of a circuit.
        The guard-rail provided the channel between the downed wire and the tree.
  
• (communications) The part that connects a data source to a data sink.
        A channel stretches between them.
  
• (communications) A path for conveying electrical or electromagnetic signals, usually distinguished from other parallel paths.
        We are using one of the 24 channels.
  
• (communications) A single path provided by a transmission medium via physical separation, such as by multipair cable.
        The channel is created by bonding the signals from these four pairs.
  
• (communications) A single path provided by a transmission via spectral or protocol separation, such as by frequency- or time-division multiplexing.
        Their call is being carried on channel 6 of the T-1 line.
  
• (broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies, usually in conjunction with a predetermined letter, number, or codeword, and allocated by international agreement.
        KNDD is the channel at 107.7 MHz in Seattle.
  
• (broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies used for transmitting television.
        NBC is on channel 11 in San Jose.
  
• (storage) The portion of a storage medium, such as a track or a band, that is accessible to a given reading or writing station or head.
        This chip in this disk drive is the channel device.
  
• (technic) The way in a turbine pump where the pressur is build up.
        The liquid is pressurized in the lateral channel.
  
• To direct the flow of something
        We will channel the traffic to the left with these cones.
  
• To assume the personality of another person, typically a historic figure, in a theatrical or paranormal presentation
        When it is my turn to sing Karaoke, I am going to channel Ray Charles.