sluice

American  

[sloos] / slus /

noun

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, especially 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.

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verb (used with object)

sluiced, sluicing

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.

verb (used without object)

sluiced, sluicing

1. to flow or pour through or as if through a sluice.

sluice British  

/ 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. See 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

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verb

1. (tr) to draw out or drain (water, etc) from (a pond, etc) by means of a sluice

2. (tr) to wash or irrigate with a stream of water

3. (tr) mining to wash in a sluice

4. (tr) to send (logs, etc) down a sluice

5. (intr; often foll by away or out) (of water, etc) to run or flow from or as if from a sluice

6. (tr) to provide with a sluice

Other Word Forms

• sluicelike adjective
• undersluice noun
• unsluiced adjective

Etymology

Origin of sluice

1300–50; Middle English scluse (noun) < Old French escluse < Late Latin exclūsa, a water barrier, noun use of feminine of Latin exclūsus, past participle of exclūdere to exclude

Example Sentences

Dump trucks carried the soil to an immense sluicing operation, where water from two reservoirs washed away dirt to reveal gold nuggets.

From Los Angeles Times

People on social media brandish gold-flecked pans and nuggets while showing off their equipment, ranging from old-fashioned picks to gold-separating sluice boxes.

From The Wall Street Journal

The action sets sail with a hefty oceanic sequence where Edwards leans on his expertise in sluicing fins and underwater ka-thumps.

From Los Angeles Times

Other heavy construction equipment including excavators and sluice and slurry pumps were brought in, as well as technical experts and "several hundred tons of gravel and earth", the US Army said.

From BBC

Yet after back-to-back atmospheric rivers walloped California in less than a week, it wouldn’t take much for water, mud and boulders to sluice down fragile hillsides, experts warned.

From Seattle Times