mill race

plural mill races · alternative mill-race · alternative millrace

1. A fast-running water-filled channel diverted from a river or stream used to drive the millwheel in a watermill.

   She liked the cold water of the mill-race, and without shame or hesitation would throw off her frock and float like a mermaid, almost invisible, in the watery element.

   1935, Benedict Read, The Green Child, Capuchin, published 2010, page 36

   2 more examples

   For a time the apostis glowed like a forge; gradually it dimmed and went out, and our ship resumed a more conventional position, though the wind still screamed in the rigging and the clouds scudded under us like flecks of foam in a mill race.

   1987, Gene Wolfe, chapter XXVII, in The Urth of the New Sun, 1st US edition, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 162

   The mill race was a ditch that was cut which started along the river’s edge that ran past the mill to provide the water that would turn a wheel that would provide power to the saws. There was a gate on the ditch which could be raised or lowered to allow the water to run or to stop its flow down the ditch.

   2000, Lewis J Swindle, The History of the Gold Discoveries of the Northern Mines of California's Mother Lode Gold Belt As Told by the Newspapers and Miners 1848-1875, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 8

   Synonyms: lade, mill lade, millrun, watergang