A list of words used when describing canals:
- Aqueduct is a bridge carrying the body of water and its traffic over a lower obstacle like another stream or highway. Examples: Briare aqueduct, Orb Aqueduct
- Cut is that part of the path in a canalized stream that allows the stream to bypass an obstacle that remains within the body of the stream itself. For example if the stream contained a waterfall, dam, or weir.
- Canalization is the modification of a river bed so as to make it more appropriate for river traffic.
- Channel
- Channelization is the straightening of an existing stream.
- Flash lock (navigation weirs) [hugh p166] was an early version of today's pound lock where water was deepened by a removable dam and then released along with boat traffic to maneuver down the stream with a higher water level.
- Lateral canal is a canal built along the same right-of-way as an existing stream. Examples:
- Lock
- Pound is the body of water between locks. In the case of a pound lock, it is the body of water within the lock.
- Pound lock is the mechanism by which boats may be raised or lowered in a small body of water with gates on either end.
- Puddling (engineering)
- Racles, râcles [hugh p166] is a section of a river used in a canal. not found any where in wiki. Canal du Loing has two râcles.
- Reach is the body of water between two locks. Same as pound.
- Siphon_sluice
- Sluice
- Summit canal is a canal that carries traffic over a higher point of land than either of its ends. Examples: Canal du Midi, Canal de Briare
- Weir is a dam that has water flowing over its top, allowing the river to become deeper.
- Watershed