A: The usual spelling for the shaft down which garbage, laundry, and other stuff drops is “chute.” However, some standard dictionaries, including Oxford Dictionaries online, list “shoot” as an acceptable variant.

What is a chute in plants?

A chute is an inclined tube used to transport material from an elevated spot to a lower spot. ... At coal processing plants, you can see chutes.

What is chute short for?

A chute is a sloping channel things move down along. It comes from the French word for “to fall.” But if you are a shipper of Chinese groceries you could shoot cans of bamboo shoots down a chute to the loading dock. “Chute” is also short for “parachute,” but people rarely misspell it in that sense.