tailrace

American  

[teyl-reys] / ˈteɪlˌreɪs /

noun

1. the race, flume, or channel leading away from a waterwheel or the like.

2. Mining. the channel for conducting tailings or refuse away in water.

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tailrace British  

/ ˈteɪlˌreɪs /

noun

1. a channel that carries water away from a water wheel, turbine, etc Compare headrace

2. mining the channel for removing tailings in water

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Etymology

Origin of tailrace

First recorded in 1770–80; tail ¹ + race ¹

Example Sentences

The John Day dam is the worst, with on average 65 days each summer in which the river exceeds 68 degrees, measured in waters just below the dam, known as the tailrace.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 31, 2019

It sits astride the Columbia River, which loses as much as 70 feet of elevation as it falls through the building’s turbines and emerges, almost glass-smooth, in the powerhouse’s tailrace.

From Forbes • Oct. 20, 2011

That year James W. Marshall, a wheelwright, discovered gold in the tailrace of James Augustus Suiter's sawmill at Coloma.

From Time Magazine Archive

While the log was running through the saw, it was my never ending delight to lean out of an opening in the side of the mill and watch the tailrace rush from under the building.

From Confessions of Boyhood by Albee, John

A convenient form of these wheels includes draft tubes, by which the wheel may be set several feet above the tailrace, and the advantage of this additional fall still be preserved.

From Electricity for the farm Light, heat and power by inexpensive methods from the water wheel or farm engine by Anderson, Frederick Irving