slack vs sluice

slack

noun
  • A tidal marsh or shallow that periodically fills and drains. 

  • Unconditional listening attention given by client to patient. 

  • A temporary speed restriction where track maintenance or engineering work is being carried out at a particular place. 

  • The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it. 

  • Small coal; coal dust. 

  • A valley, or small, shallow dell. 

adj
  • Moderately warm. 

  • Vulgar; sexually explicit, especially in dancehall music. 

  • Not active or busy, successful, or violent. 

  • Excess; surplus to requirements. 

  • Lax; not tense; not firmly extended. 

  • Lacking diligence or care; not earnest or eager. 

  • Lax. 

  • Moderate in speed. 

  • Weak; not holding fast. 

verb
  • To slacken. 

  • To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake. 

adv
  • Slackly. 

sluice

noun
  • The stream flowing through a floodgate. 

  • A water gate or floodgate. 

  • A long box or trough through which water flows, used for washing auriferous earth. 

  • An instance of wh-stranding ellipsis, or sluicing. 

  • An artificial passage for water, fitted with a valve or gate, for example in a canal lock or a mill stream, for stopping or regulating the flow. 

  • Hence, an opening or channel through which anything flows; a source of supply. 

verb
  • To wash (down or out). 

  • To flow, pour. 

  • To elide the complement in a coordinated wh-question. See sluicing. 

  • To emit by, or as by, flood gates. 

  • To wet copiously, as by opening a sluice 

  • To wash with, or in, a stream of water running through a sluice. 

How often have the words slack and sluice occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )