Dictionary

leat en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /liːt/
• (Southern-England) audio

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.

Meanings

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. 1927, Henry William Williamson, Tarka the Otter, Chapter 19:

Forms

Deriveds

leatwright · mill-leat

Translations (2)

pt levada (artificial watercourse, canal or aqueduct) · bg воденичен улей (artificial watercourse, canal or aqueduct)