head gate


noun
  1. a control gate at the upstream end of a canal or lock.

  2. a floodgate of a race, sluice, etc.

Origin of head gate

1
An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

Words Nearby head gate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use head gate in a sentence

  • Our supply could thus be regulated at the flume instead of going all the way up to the old head-gate for the purpose.

    The Trail of The Badger | Sidford F. Hamp
  • Then, the flume being ready, we two and Pedro went up and raised the stone head-gate three inches.

    The Trail of The Badger | Sidford F. Hamp
  • All of the drops, as well as the head-gate and flood weirs, were finished, standing as if hewn out of solid white stone.

    The Iron Furrow | George C. Shedd
  • It was the sodden fleece of the old ewe, which had been drifted against the head-gate and held there to her death.

    In Exile and Other Stories | Mary Hallock Foote
  • That night, or rather in the early hours of the following morning, a horseman came spurring up to the head gate of Colchester.

    The King's Daughters | Emily Sarah Holt

British Dictionary definitions for head gate

head gate

noun
  1. a gate that is used to control the flow of water at the upper end of a lock or conduit: Compare tail gate

  2. another name for floodgate (def. 1)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012