A framework, grating, etc., placed in a river for various purposes; spec. (a) one designed to trap or obstruct fish, esp. salmon (now historical and…

†(a) A dam for water, a mill-dam. Perhaps Obsolete. (b) A sluice or floodgate: ‘esp. the outfall sluice of a river or drain communicating with a…

Originally: a barrier built across a river to increase the depth of water for navigation, consisting of upright timbers supporting wooden paddles…

On a river, canal, etc.: = lock, n.2 10 11a. Now rare.

A structure of wood or masonry, a dam or embankment, for impounding the water of river, canal, etc., provided with an adjustable gate or gates by…

A sluice gate or floodgate on a canal, river, or irrigation system.

a floodgate at the mouth of a drain or watercourse.

A sluice. (Cf. spayer, n.)

singular and plural. A gate or gates that may be opened or closed, to admit or exclude water, esp. the water of a flood; spec. the lower gates of a…

A flood-gate which opens to allow the flow and regulate the supply of water in a mill-stream. Also a similar gate in a drain. Also ‘one of the…

A sluice.

A contrivance for stopping or regulating the passage of water. Cf. floodgate, n., lock gate n., sluice-gate, n.

†(a) a gate at the entrance to an enclosure for livestock, an enclosed field, etc.; = falgate, n. (obsolete rare); (b) a portcullis (now rare)…

A sluice, a water gate.

A sluice (see quot. 1642).

A sluice or floodgate for regulating the flow from a pent body of water, as in a watermill.

A sluice.

A sluice gate in a canal or river lock, which may be raised or lowered to control water levels. Cf. draw-sluice n. at draw-, comb._form affix 1.

A framework of boards sliding in grooves, to be raised in time of flood; a sluice, floodgate. literal and figurative.

A barrier across a watercourse or stream; a water-gate, allowing the water to flow, but obstructing cattle; also, a lock on a navigable stream. Also…

A sluice or stop-gate; = slacker, n. 1.

An opening for a hatch (hatch, n.1 3) in a weir or floodgate. Obsolete.

A contrivance for producing a ‘flash’ (senses 11a 11b). (See quots. and flash-board, n.)

= sense 3.

The gate of a sluice, the part which can be opened or shut to let out or retain the water; also, the upper gate of a lock.

A lock on a canal or river with a gate and a sluice or valve at each end. Cf. lock, n.2 11a, pound, n.2 4(b).

(a) a gate placed across a railway; (b) a gate by which the water in one section of a canal can be shut off from the next in case of damage to the…

A large basket used to catch eels; on the river Thames: a wooden framework at a weir, supporting eel-baskets. Also eel-buck, (eel, n. compounds…

(See quot. 1877, and cf. slaker, n. 2.)

Esp. in the Maritime Provinces of Canada: a sluice gate in a dyke, which allows water draining from the land to flow out but does not allow sea…

In Guyana: a sluice gate.

(see quots.).

(in a dam, weir, etc.) a gate that drops open automatically as a flood-prevention measure when water levels reach a certain height.

Chiefly local (on the Thames). The body of water that lashes or rushes over an opening in a barrier or weir; hence the opening itself, and by…

A sluice-gate. Sometimes applied to the whole sluice.

The lower gate or pair of gates of a canal-lock; the aft-gate.

the flood-gate or sluice of a weir.

In various technical senses. A small gate or valve for emptying the chamber of a canal-lock, or in the chute of a waterwheel for regulating the…