tail-race
(ˈteɪlreɪs)
[Cf. race n.1 8 c.]
a. The part of a mill-race below the wheel, the tail-water; = tail n.1 4 f.
| 1776 C. Carroll Jrnl. Miss. Canada in B. Mayer Mem. (1845) 54 The water ran through this passage about as swift as it does through your tail race. 1820 Aberdeen Jrnl. 2 Aug. (Jam. s.v. Hack), To put proper hecks on the tail⁓races of their canals. 1873 Act 36 & 37 Vict. c. 71 §17 No person shall catch..any salmon..in the head race or tail race of any mill. |
b. Mining. (See quot. 1881.)
| 1863 App. Jrnls. House Reps. N.Z. D. vi. 14 Where the water is heavy, and there are no means of cutting a tail⁓race, water-wheels have been erected, with Californian pumps attached. 1874 [see paddock n.2 3]. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Tail-race, the channel in which tailings, suspended in water, are conducted away. 1890 Melbourne Argus 16 June 6/2 A value of gold equal to the amount now saved was run into the tail-race and lost. |
c. The watercourse leading from the turbine of a power-station or dam, etc.
| 1953 Times 4 Aug. 3/4 An electric screen has been devised which is successful in preventing salmon and sea trout from swimming into the tailrace (the outflow from a water turbine) of a power station. 1974 Progress (Easley, S. Carolina) 24 Apr. ii. 10/2 Rainbows are the most common species stocked into tailrace waters. 1978 Texas Parks & Wildlife July 13/3 We've dealt mainly with tailraces below large flood-control and power⁓generating dams. |