Leat
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An artificial watercourse, canal, or aqueduct, but especially a millrace.
"His paws rested on a sunken branch. The water moved down, clouded with the mud-stirrings of the leat. He lay so still that the trout returned to their stances beside the stone sterlings."
Example
More examples"His paws rested on a sunken branch. The water moved down, clouded with the mud-stirrings of the leat. He lay so still that the trout returned to their stances beside the stone sterlings."
Etymology
Probably from Middle English lete (“a meeting or intersection of roads; junction; crossroads; conduit”), from Old English ġelǣte (“a going out, ending, meeting”), as in Old English wæterġelǣt (“watercourse, aquaduct”), from Proto-Germanic *lētą, *galētą (“a letting, a letting out”). Cognate with Old High German gilāz (“outlet, exit, end, road junction”), German Gelaß (“back room, recess, private chamber”). Related to English let.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.