The channels attached to the edges of a roof that collect and carry away rainwater, or the low areas beside streets where water runs, or run-down neighborhoods.
From Old French 'gutiere' and Latin 'gutta' (drop). Originally meant a water channel or gutter; the metaphorical meaning for poor areas comes from people being 'in the gutter' (at the lowest social level).
The phrase 'gutter press' refers to sensationalist journalism that spreads rumors and celebrity gossip, and it literally comes from the image of things being worthless enough to find in a street gutter—language that judges information by its social location, not its truth.
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