See Also: sluice(medicine)
sluice(1)(dictionary)
sluice(2)(dictionary)
sluice 1, noun(dictionary)
sluice 2, verb(dictionary)
Seaton Sluice Beach(tourism)

sluice(1) (iou)



sluice noun. [slu:s] ME.
[Old French escluse (mod. ecluse) from Proto-Gallo-Romance use as noun (sc. aqua water) of fem. pa. pple of Latin excludere EXCLUDE.]
a. A structure on a river, canal, etc., with an adjustable gate or gates by which the volume or flow of water is controlled; a gate in such a structure. Also, the body of water so controlled. ME.
D. H. Lawrence Open the sluice that let out the water.
b. A paddle or slide in a gate or barrier by which water is held back. E17.
c. Any device by which a flow of water is regulated; a valve, pipe, etc., by which water may be let in or run off. E17.
A channel, a drain, esp. one carrying off overflow or surplus water. M16.
A gap, an opening; a gash, a wound. M17-M18.
In gold-mining, a man-made channel or trough fitted with grooves into which a current of water is directed in order to separate gold from auriferous ore. US & Austral. M19.
Comb.: sluice-box US & Austral. a trough in a gold-miner's sluice; sluice-fork: used to break up lumps of gravel in a gold-miner's sluice-box; sluice-gate the gate of a sluice able to be opened or shut to control the flow of water; the upper gate of a lock; sluice-head a supply of water sufficient for flushing out a sluice; sluice-way a channel or waterway controlled by means of a sluice or sluices.
sluicy adjective (chiefly poet.) (a) (of rain etc.) pouring as if from a sluice, streaming; (b) rare resembling a sluice: L17.