What does "penstock" mean?

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.

What is a synonym for "penstock"?

Common synonyms include: sluice, aboideau, air lock, chute, dock gate, eaves trough.

noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
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.
"It amazes him still, this effortless journey powered by the fall of water. Water surging through tunnel and penstock."
2
conduit that carries a rapid flow of water controlled by a sluicegate wordnet
3
The barrel of a wooden pump.
4
regulator consisting of a valve or gate that controls the rate of water flow through a sluice wordnet

"It amazes him still, this effortless journey powered by the fall of water. Water surging through tunnel and penstock."

Perhaps from pen (“an enclosure”) + stock.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.