gate

Multiple Entries:
  gate    -gate  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
gate1

▶noun

• 1 a hinged barrier used to close an opening in a wall, fence, or hedge.

  ■ an exit from an airport building to an aircraft.

  ■ a hinged or sliding barrier for controlling the flow of water: a sluice gate.

• 2 the number of people who pay to enter a sports ground for an event.

• 3 an arrangement of slots into which the gear lever of a motor vehicle moves to engage each gear.

• 4 an electric circuit with an output which depends on the combination of several inputs.

• 5 a device for holding each frame of a movie film in position behind the lens of a camera or projector.

▶verb Brit. confine (a pupil or student) to school or college.

– phrases
get (or be given) the gate N. Amer. informal be dismissed from a job.

– derivatives
gated adjective.

– origin OE gæt, geat, pl. gatu, of Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
gate2

▶noun Brit. (in place names) a street: Kirkgate.

– origin ME (also meaning ‘way’ in general): from ON gata.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
-gate/ɡeɪt/

▶combining form in nouns denoting a scandal, especially one involving a cover-up: Irangate.

– origin 1970s: suggested by the Watergate scandal in the US, 1972.