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Glite Dictionary
🚰 A water gate 🐄 Animal holder ⛏️ Main mine entrance
headgate

headgate

9.9
The main entrance to an underground mine where workers enter
  • noun
  • /ˈhɛdˌɡeɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : entrada principal
  • Before starting, the team inspected the headgate to ensure it met safety standards for the mining operation.

Examples

  • As they approached the headgate, the sound of machinery indicated that mining had already begun.

  • They'd squeezed through the headgate and wriggled the whole length of the channel, through an inch of water, and thrown themselves over the waterfall at the top of the pool.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The miners carefully positioned the equipment at the headgate to prepare for the day's work underground.

Synonyms

airway
vsheadgate
  • Specialized
1 4.5

A passage that brings fresh air into mines and tunnels

is the main route at the working face rather than only a ventilation duct
heading
vsheadgate
  • Specialized
1 8.8

A nearly horizontal tunnel dug underground for miners to move through

is the specific main entrance at the working face rather than any passage

Surface Forms

headgate singular
headgates plural

Morphology

headgate = head + gate (semi-transparent) = head + gate

The compound structure is clear, but the mining-specific sense 'main entrance or roadway at the working face' is a technical extension that may not be obvious to an average learner.

Etymology

Headgate pairs head (the 'front' or 'main' part) with gate ('entrance'), which makes it the main opening. That's why miners use headgate to mean the main entrance or roadway at the working face of a mine.