Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sluice or gate used to control a flow of water.
  • noun A pipe or conduit used to carry water to a water wheel or turbine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In hydraulic engin., that part of the channel, conduit, or trough supplying water to a water-wheel which extends between the race and the gate through which the water flows to the wheel. It is generally made of planks or boards bound on the outside with stout timbers.
  • noun A hydrant supplying water which is conveyed through a pipe from the source of supply.
  • noun The barrel of a pump, in which the piston plays, and through which the water passes up.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A close conduit or pipe for conducting water, as, to a water wheel, or for emptying a pond, or for domestic uses.
  • noun The barrel of a wooden pump.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A sluice or pipe which allows the controlled flow of water from behind a dam, typically routing it to a turbine of a power plant.
  • noun The barrel of a wooden pump.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun regulator consisting of a valve or gate that controls the rate of water flow through a sluice
  • noun conduit that carries a rapid flow of water controlled by a sluicegate

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Perhaps from pen an enclosure + stock.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Poor Ernest was bored to despair

    And damned his bad luck to be there.

    There's only intense talk

    Of turbine and penstock

    At the hydroelectric dam fair.

    Find out more about Ernest Bafflewit

    January 30, 2016