1
a
: an artificial passage for water (as in a millstream) fitted with a valve or gate for stopping or regulating flow
b
: a body of water pent up behind a floodgate
2
: a dock gate : floodgate
3
a
: a stream flowing through a floodgate
b
: a channel to drain or carry off surplus water
4
: a long inclined trough usually on the ground
especially
: such a contrivance paved usually with riffles to hold quicksilver for catching gold
sluiced; sluicing
1
: to draw off by or through a sluice
2
a
: to wash with or in water running through or from a sluice
b
: to drench with a sudden flow : flush
3
: to transport (logs) in a sluice
: to pour as if from a sluice
Examples of sluice in a Sentence
Verb
he sluiced the gutters with lots of water in order to make sure they were clear
Recent Examples on the Web
Foreign Affairs, 24 Aug. 2016
At night Mulrooney put the floor sweepings through a sluice, gleaning an extra $100 or so in gold dust daily.
—Melanie Haiken, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Oct. 2024
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
Equally, dramas are frequently sluiced with humor, making dramedies one of the major trends of this year’s Co-Production and Financing Forum, as Iberseries head Samuel Castro observed.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 7 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for sluice 
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Noun
In 2014, Kyrgyz and Tajik conscripts exchanged fire over a strategic sluice in Ak-Sai.
—Foreign Affairs, 24 Aug. 2016
At night Mulrooney put the floor sweepings through a sluice, gleaning an extra $100 or so in gold dust daily.
—Melanie Haiken, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Oct. 2024
Verb
Most of us are aware, in the wake of the Panama Papers and similar leaks, of the extent to which the assets of the wealthy are sluiced offshore into tax havens.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
Equally, dramas are frequently sluiced with humor, making dramedies one of the major trends of this year’s Co-Production and Financing Forum, as Iberseries head Samuel Castro observed.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 7 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for sluice
Dictionary Entries Near sluice
Cite this Entry
“Sluice.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sluice. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
sluice
1 of 2 noun1
: an artificial passage for water with a gate for controlling its flow or changing its direction
2
: a body of water held back by a gate or a stream flowing through a gate
3
: a device (as a floodgate) for controlling the flow of water
4
: a channel that carries off surplus water
5
: a long sloping trough (as for floating logs to a sawmill)
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