Definitions

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

  • noun A channel for an overflow of water, as from a reservoir.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A passage for surplus water from a dam.

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

  • noun A sluiceway or passage for superfluous water in a reservoir, to prevent too great pressure on the dam.

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

  • noun A path designed to take away overflow safely.

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

  • noun a channel that carries excess water over or around a dam or other obstruction

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

spill +‎ way

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Examples

  • The spillway is located on the right bank, and it has 14 segmented sluice-gates with a total discharge rate of 62,200 cubic meters per second.

    Itaipú dam 2008

  • The spillway is a good place for rice and crawfish, and Marty Frey said that if it floods only once every 30 years or so, he believes it is well worth continuing to work there.

    Mississippi Flooding Harms Agriculture in Several US States 2011

  • This intentional flood is more controlled, however, and residents are warned by the Corps each year in letters, reminding them of the possibility of opening the spillway, which is 4,000 feet long and has 125 gate bays.

    Louisiana Floodgate Opens, Diverts Mississippi 2011

  • Then we went out and bought Bond Park and made a deal with the county that the spillway could be a part of the park.

    Oral History Interview with Koka Booth, July 6, 2004. Interview K-0648. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) 2004

  • The spillway, which is here to the side, is 143.8 meters wide and 427.8 meters long.

    INAUGURATION OF THE EL MATE DAM 1968

  • The spillway is a concrete-lined opening cut through a hill of rock near the center of the dam.

    Boy Scouts in the Canal Zone The Plot Against Uncle Sam 1909

  • This intentional flood is more controlled, however, and residents are warned by the corps each year in written letters, reminding them of the possibility of opening the spillway, which is 4,000 feet long and has 125 gate bays.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2011

  • This intentional flood is more controlled, however, and residents are warned by the corps each year in written letters, reminding them of the possibility of opening the spillway, which is about 1,200 metres long and has 125 gate bays.

    CBC | Top Stories News 2011

  • This intentional flood is more controlled, however, and residents are warned by the corps each year in written letters, reminding them of the possibility of opening the spillway, which is 4,000 feet long and has 125 gate bays.

    Boston.com Top Stories 2011

  • This intentional flood is more controlled, however, and residents are warned by the corps each year in written letters, reminding them of the possibility of opening the spillway, which is 4,000 feet long and has 125 gate bays.

    The Seattle Times 2011

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