Gate

n. [A-S. geat, gat, gate, door, Icel., D. & L. Ger. gat, opening, Icel. & Sw. gata, Dan. gade, D. gate, Goth. gatwo, O. H. Ger. gazza, gazza, N. H. Ger. gasse, path, from Goth. gitan, A-S. getan, gitan, Icel. geta, Eng. get. Cf. GAIT and GEAT.]

1Sense 1. A large door or passage-way in the wall of a city, or an inclosed place, a grand edifice, and the like; also, the frame of timber, metal, &c., which closes the passage.

2Sense 2. An opening left for passage in any inclosing wall or fence, or the suspended frame-work which closes or opens a passage; a frame stopping the passage of water through a dam or lock; an avenue; a means of entrance. “Opening the gate for a long war.” Knolles.

Knowest thou the way to Dover? Both stile and gate, horse-way and foot-path. Shak.

3Sense 3. (Script.) The places which command the entrances or access; hence, to stand in the gate, or the gates, is to occupy places of advantage or defense.

4Sense 4. (Founding.) (a.) The channel leading from the sprue to the mold. (b.) The waste piece of metal cast in the gate.

5Sense 5. A way or path. [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. W. Scott.