sluice vs tube

sluice

verb
  • To flow, pour. 

  • To wash (down or out). 

  • 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. 

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. 

tube

verb
  • To supply with, or enclose in, a tube. 

  • To intubate. 

  • To ride an inner tube. 

noun
  • Anything that is hollow and cylindrical in shape. 

  • The London Underground railway system, originally referred to the lower level lines that ran in tubular tunnels as opposed to the higher ones which ran in rectangular section tunnels. (Often the tube.) 

  • A television. Compare cathode ray tube and picture tube. 

  • A tin can containing beer. 

  • An approximately cylindrical container, usually with a crimped end and a screw top, used to contain and dispense semiliquid substances. 

  • An idiot. 

  • A wave which pitches forward when breaking, creating a hollow space inside. 

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