millrace

[ mil-reys ]

noun
  1. the channel in which the current of water driving a mill wheel flows to the mill.

  2. the current itself.

Origin of millrace

1
First recorded in 1470–80; mill1 + race1

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

How to use millrace in a sentence

  • He was a profuse talker; ran a stream every time you looked at him; it was like turning on a mill-race.

    Overland | John William De Forest
  • The whole inlet boiled like a pot, and roared like a mill-race.

    Left on Labrador | Charles Asbury Stephens
  • Look at the chap perched out on the very end of that log, with the water rushing below like a mill-race!

    The Outdoor Chums After Big Game | Captain Quincy Allen
  • They dragged every foot of the mill race and the creek for a long distance below the dam.

    Sixes and Sevens | O. Henry
  • The mainland lay not more than a short stone's throwaway, but between it and the island the water ran as swift as a mill race.

    The Gaunt Gray Wolf | Dillon Wallace

British Dictionary definitions for millrace

millrace

millrun

/ (ˈmɪlˌreɪs) /


noun
  1. the current of water that turns a millwheel

  2. the channel for this water

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