Gate , n. [Icel. gata; akin to SW. gata street, lane, Dan. gade, Goth. gatwö, G. gasse. Cf. Gate a door, Gait.]

1. A way; a path; a road; a street (as in Highgate). [O. Eng. & Scot.]

I was going to be an honest man; but the devil has this very day flung first a lawyer, and then a woman, in my gate. Sir W. Scott.

2. Manner; gait. [O. Eng. & Scot.]

Gate (gāt), n. [OE. ȝet, ȝeat, 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, 3d Get.]

1. 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.

2. 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.

Knowest thou the way to Dover? Both stile and gate, horse way and footpath. Shak.

Opening a gate for a long war. Knolles.

3. A door, valve, or other device, for stopping the passage of water through a dam, lock, pipe, etc.

4. (Script.) The places which command the entrances or access; hence, place of vantage; power; might.

The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matt. xvi. 18.

5. In a lock tumbler, the opening for the stump of the bolt to pass through or into.

6. (Founding) (a) The channel or opening through which metal is poured into the mold; the ingate. (b) The waste piece of metal cast in the opening; a sprue or sullage piece. [Written also geat and git.]

Gate chamber, a recess in the side wall of a canal lock, which receives the opened gate. -- Gate channel. See Gate, 5. -- Gate hook, the hook-formed piece of a gate hinge. -- Gate money, entrance money for admission to an inclosure. -- Gate tender, one in charge of a gate, as at a railroad crossing. -- Gate valva, a stop valve for a pipe, having a sliding gate which affords a straight passageway when open. -- Gate vein (Anat.), the portal vein. -- To break gates (Eng. Univ.), to enter a college inclosure after the hour to which a student has been restricted. -- To stand in the gate, or gates, to occupy places or advantage, power, or defense.

Gate , v. t.

1. To supply with a gate.

2. (Eng. Univ.) To punish by requiring to be within the gates at an earlier hour than usual.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913