Gutter VS eavesdrop

Question

What's the difference between 'gutter' and 'eavesdrop'?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Gutter is a noun.
Eavesdrop is a verb.

They are not synonyms in any way.

Seattleguy · Answer

They do not seem related in any way - do you have an example of what you need to clarify excatly?

Anonymous · Answer

The area where a gutter would be is called an eavesdrop on buildings that don't have gutters. It is the area underneath the eaves (overhang) of the roof where water drips off. It is also called an eavesdrip sometimes. A lot of people have never heard the word eavesdrop used in this way. They just assume it is the act of eavesdropping (listening in on others conversation) thus the confusion with your other answers. In short the difference is that an eavesdrop is basically the lack of gutters. Although if you had gutters they would be attached to the eavesdrop. The verb form of eavesdrop came about because if you were to stand near the window of a house to overhear what is being said inside you would be standing underneath the eavesdrop.

Clive · Answer

I've never in my life heard that that part of a building called 'the eavesdrop'.
Can you find this usage in any dictionary, please?

Clive

Wilpeter · Answer

In Canada, we call it the evestrough.

Sijay · Answer

@Clive: I haven't either; but apparently it's an obsolete word for the ground under the eaves.

Google definitions says (click Translations, word origin, and more definitions):

Origin

early 17th century: back-formation from eavesdropper (late Middle English) ‘a person who listens from under the eaves,’ from the obsolete noun eavesdrop‘the ground onto which water drips from the eaves,’ probably from Old Norse upsardropi, from ups‘eaves’ + dropi‘a drop.’

They don't provide a citation, but this seems plausible and should be enough to start researching if you're interested.

Sijay · Answer

wilpeterIn Canada, we call it the evestrough.

Not eavestrough, with an a?

Wilpeter · Answer

Whoops! Sorry, I dropped an a! Glad you caught it.
There are perhaps 50 company names that use the Evestrough spelling, however. That's Canada for you!

Sijay · Answer

Well! Then this may be the closest thing to full answer to the original question:

A gutter (more specifically a rain gutter) is a trough mounted at the eaves of a roof, to catch and redirect rainwater so that it doesn't pour directly onto the ground below.

In Canadian English, the common word for a gutter is an eavestrough.

There is a similar, obsolete English word, eavesdrop, which is the ground upon which water from the eaves falls (when not diverted by a gutter). Eavesdrop survives in modern English as a verb, meaning to secretly listen to another's conversation, as if from outside a window under the eaves.

Any additions, anyone?

Gutter VS eavesdrop

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