sluice
English
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
sluice
- /sluːs/
- /ˈslʉs/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
- /sljuːs/ obsolete
Rhymes with -uːs
Where it comes from
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.
noun sluices
- 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.
- 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. Another powerful argument that sluices are CPs comes from the positional distribution of sluiced wh-phrases in a variety of languages.
verb sluices · sluicing · sluiced
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- To elide the complement in a coordinated wh-question. See sluicing. In sum, then, it is possible to sluice over a correlate in a relative clause just in case the independent constraints regulating the distribution of (E-type) anaphora are met: again, we see that nothing particular to sluicing need be said.
Translations
Every language
noun passage for water
| Español | esclusa, presa, compuerta (sluicegate), aguatocho |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 수문 sumun |
| 日本語 | 水門 suimon |
| 中文 | 水閘 /水闸 shuǐzhá |
| Português | eclusa |
| Français | écluse |
| Deutsch | Schleuse, Schleusentor, Siel |
| Italiano | chiusa, scolmatore, canale di scarico, drenaggio, cateratta, cataratta |
| Ελληνικά | υδατοφράκτης ydatofráktis |
| Română | ecluza, deschizatura |
| Русский | шлюз šljuz |
| Tiếng Việt | cống |
| العربية | فُتْحَةُ التَّصْرِيف futḥatu t-taṣrīf |
verb to emit by flood gates
| Español | embalsar |
|---|
verb to wash in water running through a sluice
| Español | lavar en agua corriente |
|---|---|
| Italiano | lavare |
Talk about this word "sluice." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sluice. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. sluice. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sluice "sluice." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sluice.Cite this
@misc{sluice_2026,
title = {sluice},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sluice},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
