gate

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“
The way was now safe; the Trojan chief and his companion passed quickly through the open gate, and entered the dread region where Minos and his fellow judges pronounced on the fate of each ghost that came before them The first place within the gate was assigned to the shades of infants, cut off in the very beginning of life, who filled their allotted region with loud wailings and weeping.

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Definitions (57)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (19)

  1. noun A structure that can be swung, drawn, or lowered to block an entrance or a passageway.
  2. noun An opening in a wall or fence for entrance or exit.
  3. noun The structure surrounding such an opening, such as the monumental or fortified entrance to a palace or walled city.
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Examples (50)

  • They reflected that the guarding of their gate was a prior duty to the hunting down of runaway slaves, and, one by one, dropped off, each supposing that the others would, no doubt, go on, so that the officer of the guard soon found himself alone with only one of his men Having observed that two of the fugitives kept together, these Turks resolved to keep them in view. —  The Pirate City An Algerine Tale
  • Outside at the gate is a black stone which the ancient Arabs worshiped before Mohammed. —  Modern Persia
  • There at the gate was a fine horse, in a handsome trap, and coming up the walk an agreeable, well-dressed gentleman of wealth and position. —  The Colonel's Dream
  • Just outside the gate is the Public Free Library, erected in 1894 under the Free Libraries Act Other inhabitants: General Paoli; Holcroft, dramatist, 1761; Sir William Jones; Lord John Russell; Lord Sydenham, 1841; 8, Archbishop Markham, d. 1807; 14, Sir R. Westmacott, sculptor, d. 1856; 15, Baron Bunsen, 1841; 72, Charles X., when in exile, and in 1816 the Duchesse d'Angoulęme; Louis XVIII., in 1814, also lived in this street; 74, the Portuguese Embassy early in the eighteenth century; 77, Sir Matthew Wood; here Queen Caroline resided in 1820. —  Mayfair, Belgravia, and Bayswater The Fascination of London
  • As they turned they saw a company of bowmen debouching upon the plain from the gate through which they had but just passed Upon the wall above the gate were a number of Lotharians, among whom Jav recognized Tario. —  Thuvia, Maid of Mars
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

door ·  entrance ·  tower ·  building ·  fence ·  bridge ·  hall ·  house ·  road ·  doorway ·  station ·  garden

Used in the same contextWord Family

gate:   gates
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English, from Old English geat.
  2. Middle English, from Old Norse gata; see ghē- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English gate, gat, more commonly with initial palatal, ʒate, ʒat, ʒeat, ʒet, yate, yhate (later modern English dial. yate, Scots also yet, yett), from Anglo-Saxon geat (plural geatu, gatu), a gate, door (= Old Saxon gat, a hole (applied to a needle's eye), = OFries. gat, jet, a hole, opening (as a breach in a dike), = Dutch gat, a hole, opening, gap, mouth, = Middle Low German Low German gat, a hole, opening, = Icelandic gat (plural göt), a hole (cf. comp. skrār-gat, a keyhole, lūku-gat, a trap-door), = Norwegian gat, a hole, especially a small hole made by a knife, a notch, groove (later gata, cut a hole, pierce with a knife, especially of making buttonholes, = Icelandic gata, bore (Haldorsen), = Danish gat, a hole, a narrow inlet); perhaps from Anglo-Saxon gitan (preterit geat), get, reach: see get. Gate is usually confused with gate, a way, street, etc., or, if distinguished from it etymologically, referred to the same ult. root; but the words are prob. radically different. Gate is not represented in HG. or Gothic (Moesogothic), while, on the other hand, gate is peculiar to these branches, with the Scandinavian, and does not belong originally to any of the Low German tongues.
  2. from gate, n.
  3. Also, and in the particular sense ‘manner of walking, walk,’ now usually spelled gait, but properly gate, from Middle English gate (never with initial ʒ, y, being of Scandinavian origin), a way, road; fig., in certain adverbial phrases, way, manner (as in what gate, in what manner, other gate or other gates, in other manner (see another-gates), no gates, in no wise, alle gate, algates, always, at all events (see algate), thus gate, thus gates, in this manner, thus, so gate, so gates, in such manner, so, how gates, how, etc.); from Icelandic gata, a way, path, road (in phrase alla götu, algates, always, throughout), = Norwegian gata, a road, path, driveway, street, = Swedish gata, a street, lane, = Danish gade, a street, = Old High German gazza, Middle High German gazze, German gasse, a street, = Gothic (Moesogothic) gatwō, a street. Usually confused with gate, a door, but the connection, if any, is remote: see gate. A popular association with go (Scots gae) has given special prominence to the particular sense 3, ‘manner of walking, walk,’ with senses thence derived, usually spelled gait; but there is no etymological connection with go.
 

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