Channel
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): (n.) A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.
(2): (n.) That through which anything passes; means of passing, conveying, or transmitting; as, the news was conveyed to us by different channels.
(3): (n.) A strait, or narrow sea, between two portions of lands; as, the British Channel.
(4): (v. t.) To course through or over, as in a channel.
(5): (n.) The hollow bed where a stream of water runs or may run.
(6): (v. t.) To form a channel in; to cut or wear a channel or channels in; to groove.
(7): (n.) 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.
(8): (n.) The deeper part of a river, harbor, strait, etc., where the main current flows, or which affords the best and safest passage for vessels.
King James Dictionary [2]
Channel n.
1. In a general sense, a passage a place of passing or flowing particularly, a water course. 2. The place where a river flows, including the whole breadth of the river. But more appropriately, the deeper part or hollow in which the principal current flows. 3. The deeper part of a strait, bay, or harbor, where the principal current flows, either of tide or fresh water, or which is the most convenient for the track of a ship. 4. That through which any thing passes means of passing, conveying, or transmitting as, the news was conveyed to us by different channels. 5. A gutter or furrow in a column. 6. An arm of the sea a straight or narrow sea, between two continents, or between a continent and an isle as the British or Irish channel. 7. Channels of a ship. See Chain-wales.
CHANNEL, To form a channel to cut channels in to groove as, to channel a field or a column.
Easton's Bible Dictionary [3]
Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.
Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Channel'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/c/channel.html. 1897.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]
chan´el ( אפיק , 'āphı̄ḳ (root אפק , 'āphaḳ , "to hold or contain," "to be strong"; compare Arabic 'afaḳ "to overcome" and 'āfiḳ , "preëminent"); שבּלת , shibbōleth (שׁבל , shābhal , "to go," "to go up or grow," "to flow"; compare Arabic 'asbal , "to flow," "to rain," "to put forth ears"; sabalat , "an ear of grain"; sabı̄l , "a road," "a public fountain")): In Job 12:21; Job 40:18; Job 41:15 we have 'āphı̄ḳ in the sense of "strong" (but compare Job 40:18 , the Revised Version (British and American) "tubes" (of brass)). Elsewhere it is translated "river," "brook," "stream," "channel" or "watercourse." Shibbōleth (in the dialect of Ephraim ṣibbōleth ( Judges 12:6 )) means "an ear of grain" ( Genesis 41:5; Rth 2:2; Isaiah 17:5 ) or "a flood of water" ( Psalm 69:2 , Psalm 69:15; Isaiah 27:12 ). In 2 Samuel 22:16 (compare Psalm 18:15 ) we have:
"Then the channels of the sea appeared,
The foundations of the world were laid bare,
By the rebuke of Yahweh,
At the blast of the breath of his nostrils."
This is reminiscent of "fountains of the deep" ( Genesis 7:11; Genesis 8:2; Proverbs 8:28 ). It is a question how far we should attribute to these ancient writers a share in modern notions of oceanography, but the idea seems to be that of a withdrawal of the water of the ocean, and the laying bare of submarine declivities and channels such as we know to exist as the result of erosion during a previous period of elevation, when the given portion of ocean floor was dry land.
The fact that many streams of Palestine flow only during the rainy season seems to be referred to in Job 6:15; and perhaps also in Psalm 126:4 . See Brook; River .
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [5]
the rendering in the Auth. Vers. in certain passages of two Hebrews words:
אָפַיק , Aphik ´ , the Bed of a brook ( 2 Samuel 22:16; Psalms 18:15; Isaiah 8:7; elsewhere "stream," "river," etc.); and שַׁבֹּלֶת , Shibbo ´ Leth, a stream ( Isaiah 27:12; "flood," Psalms 69:2; Psalms 69:15).
