Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway.
In many places, the common proper name Mill Pond has remained even though the mill has long since gone. It may be fed by a man-made stream,[3] known by several terms including leat and mill stream. The channel or stream leading from the mill pond is the mill race, which together with weirs, dams, channels and the terrain establishing the mill pond, delivers water to the mill wheel to convert potential and/or kinetic energy of the water to mechanical energy by rotating the mill wheel. The production of mechanical power is the purpose of this civil engineering hydraulic system.
The term mill pond is often used colloquially and in literature to refer to a very flat body of water.[2] Witnesses of the loss of RMS Titanic reported that the sea was "like a mill pond".[2][4]
^Random House Dictionary (1640–1650). "Mill pond at Dictionary.com". Retrieved 7 September 2013. mill·pond [mil-pond] noun 1. a pond for supplying water to drive a mill wheel. Origin: 1640–50; mill1 + pond
^ abcWorld English Dictionary. "Mill pond at Dictionary.com" (Collins English Dictionary 10th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 7 September 2013. millpond (ˈmɪlˌpɒnd)— n 1. a pool formed by damming a stream to provide water to turn a millwheel 2. any expanse of calm water: the sea was a millpond
^World English Dictionary (1640). "Leat at Dictionary.com" (Collins English Dictionary 10th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 7 September 2013. leat (liːt) — n ( Brit ) 1. a trench or ditch that conveys water to a mill wheel [Old English -gelǣt (as in wætergelǣt water channel), from let 1 ]
