gate
/ˈɡeɪ̯t/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms gates gating gated yate
- noun A doorlike structure outside a house.
- noun A doorway, opening, or passage in a fence or wall.
- noun A movable barrier. “The gate in front of the railroad crossing went up after the train had passed.”
- noun A passageway (as in an air terminal) where passengers can embark or disembark.
- noun A location which serves as a conduit for transport, migration, or trade.
- noun The amount of money made by selling tickets to a concert or a sports event.
- noun (computing) A logical pathway made up of switches which turn on or off. Examples are and, or, nand, etc.
- noun (electronics) The controlling terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).
- verb (transitive) To keep something inside by means of a closed gate.
- verb (transitive, Oxbridge slang, dated or historical) To punish (a student) by not allowing to leave the college grounds.
- verb (transitive, biochemistry) To open (a closed ion channel).
- verb (transitive) To furnish with a gate.
- verb (transitive) To turn (an image intensifier) on and off selectively, as needed or to avoid damage from excessive light exposure. See autogating.
- verb (transitive) To selectively regulate or restrict (access to something). “Access to the building is gated by a security system.”
- noun (now Scotland, Northern England) A way, path.
- noun (obsolete) A journey.
- noun (Scotland, Northern England) A street; now used especially as a combining form to make the name of a street e.g. “Briggate” (a common street name in the north of England meaning “Bridge Street”) or “Kirkgate” meaning “Church Street”.
- noun (UK, Scotland, dialect, archaic) Manner; gait.
- proper noun A ghost town in Scott County, Arkansas, United States.
- proper noun A tiny town in Beaver County, Oklahoma, United States.
Synonyms
doorway entrance passage logic gate cat dude guy bloke boy bro broski bruh chap chappy chield cove covey dog [⇒ thesaurus] (slang) dawg fella
Etymology
From Middle English gate (the forms ȝate and ȝeat yielded the dialectal doublet yate), from the plural of Old English ġeat (specifically gatu), from Proto-West Germanic *gat, from Proto-Germanic *gatą (“hole, opening”).
See also Old Norse gat, Swedish and Dutch gat, Low German Gaat, Gööt.
Borrowed from Old Norse gata, from Proto-Germanic *gatwǭ. Cognate with Danish gade, Swedish gata, German Gasse (“lane”). Doublet of gait.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A large door or passageway in the wall of a city, of an inclosed field or place, or of a grand edifice, etc.; also, the movable structure of timber, metal, etc., by which the passage can be closed.
- noun An opening for passage in any inclosing wall, fence, or barrier; or the suspended framework which closes or opens a passage. Also, figuratively, a means or way of entrance or of exit.
- verb To supply with a gate.
- verb To punish by requiring to be within the gates at an earlier hour than usual.
Etymology [OE. et, , giat, gate, door, AS. geat, gat, gate, door; akin to OS., D., & Icel. gat opening, hole, and perh. to E. gate a way, gait, and get, v. Cf. Gate a way in the wall, 3d Get.]
Etymology [Icel. gata; akin to SW. gata street, lane, Dan. gade, Goth. gatwö, G. gasse. Cf. Gate a door, Gait.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details