millrace

[ mil-reys ]

/ ˈmɪlˌreɪs /

noun

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

the current itself.

Words nearby millrace

millisecond, millivolt, milliwatt, millième, millpond, millrace, millrind, millrun, mills, mills bomb, mills cross

Origin of millrace

First recorded in 1470–80; mill¹ + race¹

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

Examples from the Web for millrace

As she did so the water swept out of the cabin like a millrace, carrying both boys helplessly with it.
The Ocean Wireless Boys on the Pacific|Wilbur Lawton
How will Barney Doran's millrace agree with your motor-boats?
Personality in Literature|Rolfe Arnold Scott-James
The stream poured past like a millrace, and he looked hopelessly on the swift water.
The Romance of the Coast|James Runciman
Bob, it seemed, had often spoken of the girl whose quick wit had saved him from the millrace almost two years before.
A Little Miss Nobody|Amy Bell Marlowe

Then the hills closed in on the river and the current ran like a millrace.
A Wayfarer in China|Elizabeth Kendall

British Dictionary definitions for millrace

millrace

millrun

/ (ˈmɪlˌreɪs) /

noun

the current of water that turns a millwheel

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