Dictionary
sluice
Pronunciation: (slOOs), [key]
—n., v., sluiced, sluic•ing.
—
n.
1. an artificial channel for conducting water, often fitted with a gate
(sluice' gate") at the upper end for regulating the flow.
2. the body of water held back or controlled by a sluice gate.
3. any contrivance for regulating a flow from or into a receptacle.
4. a channel, esp. one carrying off surplus water; drain.
5. a stream of surplus water.
6. an artificial stream or channel of water for moving solid matter:
a lumbering sluice.
7. Also called
sluice' box". Mining.a long, sloping trough or the like, with grooves on the bottom, into which water is directed to separate gold from gravel or sand.
—
v.t.
1. to let out (water) by or as if by opening a sluice.
2. to drain (a pond, lake, etc.) by or as if by opening a sluice.
3. to open a sluice upon.
4. to flush or cleanse with a rush of water:
to sluice the decks of a boat.
5. Mining.to wash in a sluice.
6. to send (logs) down a sluiceway.
—
v.i.
to flow or pour through or as if through a sluice.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
