sloot, noun
- Origin:
- South African Dutch, Afrikaans, DutchShow more South African Dutch, later Afrikaans (from Dutch sloot ditch). The form sluit is perhaps a pronunciation-spelling on the analogy of fruit; but it has also been suggested that it is a confusion between sloot and spruit (the latter being occasionally pronounced /spruːt/).
1. Especially during the 19th century: a narrow water-channel constructed for the flood-irrigation of gardens or farm-lands; furrow; water-furrow. See also lead.
α.
1818 C.I. Latrobe Jrnl of Visit 187It has..water in abundance, brought by a slote, or canal, from a considerable distance.
1965 C. Van Heyningen Orange Days 26The water that ran past the house..was in an open sloot, not cemented out. Besides being used for household purposes it was also used for watering the garden.
β.
1857 W. Atmore in Cape Monthly Mag. II. Sept. 130Referring again to the sketch, the dotted lines represent the right of passage water-sluits.
1975 Het Suid-Western 30 Jan.A determined fight is being put up by Mrs. Olive van der S— to save the picturesque little sluit with running water that flows down the side of Caledon Street before it is closed in by the municipality — and replaced by an underground pipe.
2. A ditch; a gully eroded by water; cf. donga. Also (rarely) figurative (see quotation 1974).
α.
1850 J.D. Lewins Diary. 5 Aug.Dug some holes in sloot on hill opposite house for willows, also some in vley watercourse, to be planted towards sun-down.
1990 Grocott’s Mail 6 July 8He has telephoned the Provincial Roads Inspector in Port Elizabeth. Since then potholes and sloots had been filled.
β.
1851 J.F. Churchill Diary. (Killie Campbell Africana Library MS37) 21 Oct.Rode out by the road but across country over sluits & stony ground.
1980 E. Joubert Long Journey of Poppie Nongena 206The whole Mdantsane was sluits everywhere that overflowed when it rained.
a narrow water-channel constructed for the flood-irrigation of gardens or farm-lands; furrow; water-furrow.
A ditch; a gully eroded by water;
- Derivatives:
- Hence (sense 2) slooting noun (obsolete), soil erosion caused by water.1910 A.B. Lamont Rural Reader 265The evils of sluiting might be decreased by planting trees on mountain slopes and on bare karoo.1932 Grocott’s Daily Mail 31 Mar. 4Deviating the stormwater on to hard formation to prevent slooting.
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