Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense sluices, present participle sluicing, past tense, past participle sluiced
1. countable noun
A sluice is a passage that carries a current of water and has a barrier, called a sluice gate, which can be opened and closed to control the flow of water.
2. verb
If you sluice something or sluice it down or out, you wash it with a stream of water.
He sluiced the bath and filled it. [VERB noun]
Ten minutes later we were sluicing off dust at the fountain in the town centre. [VERB noun with adverb]
Synonyms: drain, cleanse, flush, drench More Synonyms of sluice
sluice in British English
(sluːs)
noun
1. Also called: sluiceway
a channel that carries a rapid current of water, esp one that has a sluicegate to control the flow
2.
the body of water controlled by a sluicegate
3. sluicegate
4. mining
an inclined trough for washing ore, esp one having riffles on the bottom to trap particles
5.
an artificial channel through which logs can be floated
6. informal
a brief wash in running water
verb
7. (transitive)
to draw out or drain (water, etc) from (a pond, etc) by means of a sluice
8. (transitive)
to wash or irrigate with a stream of water
9. (transitive) mining
to wash in a sluice
10. (transitive)
to send (logs, etc) down a sluice
11. (intr; often foll by away or out)
(of water, etc) to run or flow from or as if from a sluice
12. (transitive)
to provide with a sluice
Derived forms
sluicelike (ˈsluiceˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
C14: from Old French escluse, from Late Latin exclūsa aqua water shut out, from Latin exclūdere to shut out, exclude
sluice in American English
(slus)
noun
1.
an artificial channel or passage for water, having a gate or valve at its head to regulate the flow, as in a canal or millstream
2.
the water held back by or passing through such a gate
3.
a gate or valve used in opening or closing a sluice; floodgate
: also sluice gate
4.
any channel, esp. one for excess water
5. US
a sloping trough or flume through which water is run, as in washing gold ore, carrying logs, etc.
verb transitiveWord forms: sluiced or ˈsluicing
6.
to draw off by or as by means of a sluice
7.
a.
to wash with water flowing in or from a sluice
b.
to wash off with a rush of water
to sluice a deck with hoses
8. US
to carry (logs, etc.) in a sluice
verb intransitive
9.
to run or flow in or as in a sluice
Word origin
ME scluse < OFr escluse & LL exclusa < fem. pp. of L excludere, to shut out, exclude
Examples of 'sluice' in a sentence
sluice
He need only reach the race and open the sluice gate, and the mill would be defended by swift water, diverted from the river.
Garth Nix LIRAEL: DAUGHTER OF THE CLAYR (2001)
(verb)
Definition
to wash with a stream of water
sluicing off dust at the town fountain
Synonyms
drain
cleanse
flush
Flush the eye with clean cold water.
drench
wash out
wash down
Additional synonyms
in the sense of flush
Definition
to send water quickly through (a pipe or a toilet) so as to clean it