gate: Meaning and Definition of

gate

Pronunciation: (gāt), [key]
— n., v., gat•ed, gat•ing.
—n.
  1. a movable barrier, usually on hinges, closing an opening in a fence, wall, or other enclosure.
  2. an opening permitting passage through an enclosure.
  3. a tower, architectural setting, etc., for defending or adorning such an opening or for providing a monumental entrance to a street, park, etc.: the gates of the walled city; the palace gate.
  4. any means of access or entrance: The gate to stardom is talent.
  5. a mountain pass.
  6. any movable barrier, as at a tollbooth or a road or railroad crossing.
  7. a gateway or passageway in a passenger terminal or pier that leads to a place for boarding a train, plane, or ship.
  8. a sliding barrier for regulating the passage of water, steam, or the like, as in a dam or pipe; valve.
    1. an obstacle in a slalom race, consisting of two upright poles anchored in the snow a certain distance apart.
    2. the opening between these poles, through which a competitor in a slalom race must ski.
  9. the total number of persons who pay for admission to an athletic contest, a performance, an exhibition, etc.
  10. the total receipts from such admissions.
  11. a temporary channel in a cell membrane through which substances diffuse into or out of a cell.
  12. See
  13. a sash or frame for a saw or gang of saws.
    1. Also calledingate.a channel or opening in a mold through which molten metal is poured into the mold cavity.
    2. the waste metal left in such a channel after hardening.
    1. a signal that makes an electronic circuit operative or inoperative either for a certain time interval or until another signal is received.
    2. Also calledlogic gate.a circuit with one output that is activated only by certain combinations of two or more inputs.
  14. to be dismissed, sent away, or rejected.
  15. They gave him the gate because he was caught stealing.
    1. to reject (a person), as one's fiancé, lover, or friend.
    2. to dismiss from one's employ:They gave him the gate because he was caught stealing.
—v.t.
  1. (at British universities) to punish by confining to the college grounds.
    1. to control the operation of (an electronic device) by means of a gate.
    2. to select the parts of (a wave signal) that are within a certain range of amplitude or within certain time intervals.
—v.i.
  1. to make or use a gate.

gate

Pronunciation: (gāt), [key]
— n.
  1. a path; way.
  2. habitual manner or way of acting.

-gate

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. a combining form extracted fromoccurring as the final element in journalistic coinages, usually nonce words, that name scandals resulting from concealed crime or other alleged improprieties in government or business: Koreagate.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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