sluice

sluice down

1. To pour down (from or into something) in large amounts. The rain is positively sluicing down outside. I could hear the gurgle of the water sluicing noisily down the drain in the bathroom next to my room.
2. To clean or rinse something with a large flow or stream of water. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "sluice" and "down." The boss told me to go sluice down the stables and put down fresh hay. It's an old filmmakers' trick to sluice down the roads when shooting at night—they show up much better on film that way.
See also: down, sluice

sluice out

1. To pour or release (something) out (from or into something) in large amounts. A noun or pronoun can be used between "sluice" and "out." He turned the crank on the canal lock and watched the water sluice out. Engineers have been trying to sluice water out of the reservoir at an accelerated pace in anticipation of the heavy rainfall that has been predicted.
2. To clean, rinse, or flush the insides of something with a large flow or stream of water. A noun or pronoun can be used between "sluice" and "out." We'll need to sluice out these old pipes before we can use them again. Go to the old spigot and sluice out these slop buckets for me.
See also: out, sluice
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

sluice something down

to rinse something down; to flood the surface of something with water or other liquid to clean it. John sluiced the driveway down. Karen sluiced down the garage floor.
See also: down, sluice

sluice something out

to rinse something out; to flood the inside of something to clean it. Sluice the wheelbarrow out, will you? Please sluice out the wheelbarrow.
See also: out, sluice
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • come down in buckets
  • bucket down
  • come a gutser
  • be down to (one)
  • be down to somebody/something
  • be down to something
  • be down to (do something)
  • bounce up and down
  • chuck (something) down
  • chuck it down
References in periodicals archive
'What we are looking to do in our project and consultations with both mining associations and agencies such as Conservation International, is to search for ways to incorporate this equipment into existing operations, so you're not going to just stop using your sluice box but we are finding a way to retrofit this equipment into your existing circuit' Bandoo explained.
GUYANA-ENERGY-GGI begins underground exploration for gold
And, when it is installed in Rockdale, it will strike a chord with a local woman who last heard its peals at her wedding in Seaton Sluice.
Ding dong down under
Goddard had previously pleaded guilty to "interfering" with the sluice between December 20 and 23 last year.
Floody halfwit; Man swamped village in bid to save own home
"Once we have these sluice gates fixed, it will allow us to de-silt the millpond.
'Lord of the Rings'mill could go hydro-electric
Furious residents living upstream of the Khlong Sam Wa canal earlier tried to forcibly raise the sluice gate and demanded that the authorities ease flooding in their communities by channeling more water through the canal.
Industrial estates in Bangkok at higher risk of flooding
It was caused by the city closing the sluices at the southern end of the 792-gallon Kendall Reservoir, cutting off the water supply through a transmission main 3,000 feet to Holden Reservoir No.
Repairs nearly complete at Worcester reservoir; Kendall sluices leaked, needed to be replaced
RIVER KNOWN AS SLUICE THE River Crossens or the Sluice as it known locally is the longest and deepest drain of the Southport and District Angling Association waters which was originally dug in 17th century to drain the waters of the vast Marton Mere.
ANGLER IN RIVER TRAGEDY; Three hour search ends in body find: ANGLERDIES AFTERHEFALLS IN RIVER
Bunds, sumps, plinths, channels and sluices are susceptible to deterioration through attack from chemicals.
Eliminate potential environmental damage
Whenever the requirement is relaxed, the semantics of an antecedent can trigger a sluice that results from sprouting--the only option that violates overt structural identity in OE.
Resolution of ellipsis: evidence from Old English sluicing (1)
The government, in a statement Thursday, accused the LTTE of ''trying again to wrest control'' of the Mavilaru sluice with mortar and artillery fire.
LEAD: Gov't attacks in Sri Lanka's east kill over 45 civilians: rebels
According to Dr Freek Venter, Kruger's chief conservation officer, the building of the sluice gates will raise the current full supply level and, in time, fill the gorge with sediment, causing the deep-water pools to disappear, along with the biodiversity.
Dam threat to Gorge ecosystem
Jordan, of Callander, had denied culpably and recklessly endangering life by opening the three sluice gates on July 12 last year.
BOY CRIES FREE-DAM; Vandalism case fails
The answer may be your own version of this Japanese sluice made from real bamboo.
Bamboo water garden: make it from mail-order bamboo delivered right to your door
My main quarrel has to do with her decision to replace Q's "Truce" in Barabas's speech at V.i.88 with Broughton's emendation of "Sluice": "Feare not, my Lord, for here against the Sluice, / The rocke is hollow." Van Fossen retained "Truce," and Simmons argued that the word means "truss," so that Marlowe here offers a "photographic .
The Jew of Malta
The 4.5 hundredweight bell at the seafront church of St Paul's in Seaton Sluice has become surplus because of corrosion damage to supporting girders.
It's going, going dong as bell sold to Aussie church; deal struck through charity set to ring the changes