floodgate

[fluhd-geyt]

noun

Civil Engineering. a gate designed to regulate the flow of water.

anything serving to control the indiscriminate flow or passage of something.

Nearby words

Origin of floodgate

Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; see origin at flood, gate¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for floodgate

And, crestfallen, she went along the passages, and once more out into Floodgate Street.
The Freelands|John Galsworthy
The dam and floodgate were just beyond the southwestern bastion and the old embankment of the dam can still be traced.
Historic Highways of America (Vol. 7)|Archer Butler Hulbert
Meeting his gaze, she unbarred a floodgate of happy tenderness in her eyes.
The Path of a Star|Mrs. Everard Cotes (AKA Sara Jeannette Duncan)
The inventor of the damper register opened a floodgate to such aliquot re-enforcement as can be got in no other way.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 385, May 19, 1883|Various

The pond or reservoir above the floodgate is separated from the weir by a stone wall on the left, or south-west side.
Wild Wales|George Borrow

British Dictionary definitions for floodgate

floodgate

noun

Also called: head gate, water gate a gate in a sluice that is used to control the flow of waterSee also sluicegate

(often plural) a control or barrier against an outpouring or flowto open the floodgates to immigration

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

Word Origin and History for floodgate

floodgate

early 13c. in the figurative sense (especially with reference to tears or rain); literal sense is mid-15c.; from flood (n.) + gate (n.).