the.com/mill race
The channel that bullies water into doing actual work for once.
means The narrow, fast-flowing channel that carries water to (and away from) a mill wheel, using the current's speed to turn the machinery.
from A straightforward compound: 'mill' plus 'race' in its old sense of 'a strong, rushing current' — not the competitive kind of race, but a related sense of swift movement, surviving today mostly in this phrase and in words like 'millrace' and 'tailrace.' The watercourse was built narrow and steep on purpose, to speed the flow and give the wheel more force to work with.
- literal meaning
- the fast current driving a mill wheel
- engineering trick
- narrows the channel to speed up flow
- etymology echo
- gave us racing as in moving swiftly
- modern ghost
- old mill races still mapped as leats and sluices