sluice
noun
- hydraulic structure
verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L333038 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /sluːs/ / /ˈslʉs/ / /sljuːs/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English sluse, alteration of scluse, from Anglo-Norman escluse (“sluice, floodgate”), from Late Latin exclusa (“extrusion, gate”), from Latin exclūsus, form of exclūdō (“to shut out, to exclude”) (English exclude). Cognate to Dutch sluis.
- An artificial passage for water, fitted with a valve or gate, for example in a canal lock or a mill stream, for stopping or regulating the flow.
- A water gate or floodgate.
- Hence, an opening or channel through which anything flows; a source of supply.
“At leaſt, I'm ſure I can fiſh it out of her. She's the very Sluce to her Lady's Secrets;—'Tis but ſetting her Mill agoing, and I can drein her of 'em all.”
“Each sluice of affluent fortune open'd soon.”
- The stream flowing through a floodgate.
- A long box or trough through which water flows, used for washing auriferous earth.
- An instance of wh-stranding ellipsis, or sluicing.
verb
Etymology: From Middle English sluse, alteration of scluse, from Anglo-Norman escluse (“sluice, floodgate”), from Late Latin exclusa (“extrusion, gate”), from Latin exclūsus, form of exclūdō (“to shut out, to exclude”) (English exclude). Cognate to Dutch sluis.
- To emit by, or as by, flood gates.
“Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared, / That underneath had veins of liquid fire / Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude / With wondrous art founded the massy ore, / Severing each kind, and scummed the bullion-dross.”
- To wet copiously, as by opening a sluice
“Nine - mile Creek has been dug out again and again , and has been sluiced three times”
“[…] he dried his neck and face, which he had been sluicing with cold water.”
- To wash with, or in, a stream of water running through a sluice.
“to sluice earth or gold dust in a sluice box in placer mining”
- To wash (down or out).
“[…] he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death, / Suggest his soon-believing adversaries, / And consequently, like a traitor coward, / Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood”
“And now men with a hose have come and are sluicing out the streets.”
- To flow, pour.
“In the trough behind the white wave / Helen shook her dark head, the water sluiced from her shoulders / And rose-tipped breasts.”
“Out of sight of the houses he took off his clothes and let the rain sluice down on his bare body.”
- To elide the complement in a coordinated wh-question. See sluicing.