The washing out or away of earth, etc., especially of a portion of the bed of a road or railroad by a fall of rain or a freshet; also, a place, especially in the bed of a road or railroad, where the earth has been washed away.
the channel or break produced by erosion of relatively soft soil by water; "it was several days after the storm before they could repair the washout and open the road"
(1) Erosion of a relatively soft surface, such as a roadbed, by a sudden gush of water, as from a downpour or floods. (2) A channel produced by such erosion.