One type of gutter is a rain gutter, which serves to collect rain and run it down to the ground or some despository so that it doesn't drip off the edges of a roof. A similar sort, also called a 'ditch', is that that runs along a street or road and carries away water from the thoroughfare into a sewer. The popular image of a drunk lying in such a trench gave rise to the adjective 'gutter', meaning 'vulgar'. Another use of the word related to such an image is the idiom 'to be in the gutter', meaning 'to be down on one's luck'.

Another type of gutter is found in bowling. There are, on either side of a lane, long grooves (called, of course, gutters) which are slightly wider than a bowling ball, and a ball can easily roll into them. If it does, the ball cannot strike any pins, and the player receives no points for that throw.