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View synonyms for spillway

spillway

[ spil-wey ]

noun

  1. a passageway through which surplus water escapes from a reservoir, lake, or the like.


spillway

/ ˈspɪlˌweɪ /

noun

  1. a channel that carries away surplus water, as from a dam Also calledwasteweirspill
“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
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Word History and Origins

Origin of spillway1

First recorded in 1885–90; spill 1 + way 1
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Example Sentences

They have completed reports on 31 of those, including assessments of whether their spillways are big enough to handle a flood.

Next to the lake, a spillway flows into a stream that the Department of Water Resources refers to as Blue Canyon Creek.

Some of what they remove will be used to fill in the dam’s emergency spillway which is carved into the rock beside the river.

Opening the spillway diverts Mississippi River water to Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne, after which it flows to the Mississippi Sound in the Gulf of Mexico.

Lowry found fields of half-submerged corn, soybeans that had disappeared under the flooding almost entirely and rapids rushing from their spillway like a waterfall.

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