Yes it is a verb, but with an odd meaning So you can channel your thoughts but you can also "channel a person", which is a bit weird. Imagine one friend has a noticeable character of speakiing, writing or behaving. If you use that style then you can claim to be "channeling your friend"

I believe it means that the language you know influences the way you think. This is known as "the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis." The word "channel" here means to restrict, or to guide in a certain direction. For example, if I only know the color words "green" and "blue," I might look at a something that is teal-colored and actually see it and think of it as blue. A day later, if I were to paint a picture of it, I might use blue paint. My vocabulary channeled my thought. It could only flow in one of two narrow channels, "green" and "blue." Since it isn't green, it must be blue. But if I know words like "aqua" and "teal" and "turquoise" and "cerulean" I might see it, think of it, and remember it as "teal" and paint it using a mix of green and blue paint. In George Orwell's great novel, "Nineteen Eighty-Four," the protagonist is on a team of people developing a language called Newspeak: "The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought — that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc — should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words." In other words, Newspeak tried to channel everybody's thought into politically orthodox ways of thinking.

I think it means "convey" here.

Bill mentions an unrelated meaning of "channel" that's become very popular. I'd like to explain it a bit more. A belief system called "spiritualism" has become popular in the United States in recent years. Among other things, spiritualists think it possible to communicate with the dead. (I do not believe in spiritualism myself). According to spiritualists, people called "mediums" are able to do this. As with waves in physics, the dead communicate with the living through the "medium." Like a television channel, the medium is a "channel" through which communications pass. And, transforming the noun into a verb, the medium is said to "channel" the dead person. The medium does not merely pass on what you say to him or her. The medium almost appears to become and assume the personality of the dead person. By extension, nowadays, when a talented actor does such a perfect impression of another person that they seem to have become that person, they are sometimes said to be "channelling" that person. It is a compliment. It is acting so perfect that it is beyond acting, it is channeling.

Great question! It means :Direct towards a scope. "the congress is going to channel budgets into training schemes" Channel into means : To divert , to redirect The state authorities channeled a great deal of money into urban development .