millrace

[ mil-reys ]

/ ˈmɪlˌreɪs /

the channel in which the current of water driving a mill wheel flows to the mill.

the current itself.

Origin of millrace

First recorded in 1470–80; mill¹ + race¹

As she did so the water swept out of the cabin like a millrace, carrying both boys helplessly with it.

The Ocean Wireless Boys on the Pacific |Wilbur Lawton
How will Barney Doran's millrace agree with your motor-boats?

Personality in Literature |Rolfe Arnold Scott-James
The stream poured past like a millrace, and he looked hopelessly on the swift water.

The Romance of the Coast |James Runciman
Bob, it seemed, had often spoken of the girl whose quick wit had saved him from the millrace almost two years before.

A Little Miss Nobody |Amy Bell Marlowe

Then the hills closed in on the river and the current ran like a millrace.

A Wayfarer in China |Elizabeth Kendall

millrace

/ (ˈmɪlˌreɪs) /

the current of water that turns a millwheel

the channel for this water