Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
SLUICE
I. noun
Etymology: Middle English sluse, alteration of scluse, from Anglo-French escluse, from Late Latin exclusa, from Latin, feminine of exclusus, past participle of excludere to exclude
Date: 15th century
1. an artificial passage for water (as in a millstream) fitted with a valve or gate for stopping or regulating flow, a body of water pent up behind a floodgate, a dock gate ; floodgate ,
3. a stream flowing through a floodgate, a channel to drain or carry off surplus water, a long inclined trough usually on the ground,
II. verb (sluiced; sluicing)
Date: 1596
transitive verb to draw off by or through a sluice,
2. to wash with or in water running through or from a sluice, to drench with a sudden flow ; flush , to transport (as logs) in a sluice, intransitive verb to pour as if from a sluice