Gate

This article is about the point of entry or exit. For other uses, see Gate (disambiguation) and Gateway (disambiguation).

Gate from Bucharest (Romania)

Art Nouveau gate of Castel Béranger (Paris)

A gate or gateway is a point of entry to a space which is enclosed by walls. Gates may prevent or control the entry or exit of individuals, or they may be merely decorative. Other terms for gate include yett and port. The word is derived from old Norse "gat", meaning road or path, and originally referred to the gap in the wall or fence, rather than the barrier which closed it. The moving part or parts of a gateway may be considered "doors", as they are fixed at one side whilst opening and closing like one.

A gate may have a latch that can be raised and lowered to both open a gate or prevent it from swinging. Locks are also used on gates to increase the security. Larger gates can be used for a whole building, such as a castle or fortified town. Actual doors can also be considered gates when they are used to block entry as prevalent within a gatehouse. Today, many gate doors are opened by an automated gate operator.

Types

There are many different types of gates.

Swing Gates

A swing gate is either a single gate or a double gate, also called a bi-parting swing gate, which open up in a swinging manner typically inward unless the property slopes downward.

Sliding Gates

If you don't have enough space behind or in front of the gate for a swing gate, a sliding gate is another option. Sliding gates can also both be a single gate or double date, but the difference is the gate will slide to one side of the gate taking up less space.

Tandem Gates

Similar to a sliding gate, a tandem gate also slides but is made up of two pieces that fold into each other and slide into place.

Cantilever Gates

Cantilever gates slide but the key difference is that the gate is hung from a mounting post and is suspended in air; no part of the gate comes in contact with the ground with any type of wheel, which is where the name cantilever comes from.

Purpose-specific types of gate

• Baby gate a safety gate to protect babies and toddlers
• City gate of a walled city
• Hampshire gate (a.k.a. New Zealand gate, wire gate, etc.)
• Kissing gate on footpaths
• Lychgate with a roof
• Mon Japanese: gate. The religious torii compares to the Chinese pailou (paifang), Indian torana, and Korean hongsalmun. Mon are widespread, in Japanese gardens.
• Portcullis of a castle
• Race gates a gate used checkpoints on race tracks.
• Slip gate on footpaths
• Turnstile
• Watergate of a castle by navigable water
• Slalom skiing gates

Image gallery

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  This gate and massive gateposts has no locks—a gate marks a borderline in ownership/use and can allow passage.

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  A small, elegant gate to a meadow path

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  Ishtar Gate is the oldest city gate in existence

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  Wringin Lawang, a 14th-century Majapahit split gate, called "Candi bentar", in Trowulan

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  Richly decorated Balinese temple gate called Paduraksa

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  This gate at Columbia University was closed to prevent entry of protesters

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  A gate at Kansai University, built in 1923

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  Malaysian King's Palace Gate, Kuala Lampur

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  Medieval ironclad city gate, from the Upper Gate in the old town of Ohrid

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  Chinese traditional type gate (iron gate in front of house) in Kerala, India

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  Gates decorate routes in the entrance of Muscat, Oman

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  Kuwait Gate, historically surrounded Kuwait City, built in 1929

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  Royal Military College of Canada front gates and gatehouse

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  Ernst Rudolph, By the Entrance

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  Decorative emblems of state are also fixed on gates to public buildings, old Royal Melbourne Mint

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  Gate of Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Bhavnagar, India

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  Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University gate on the eve of Namvistar Din celebrations reflects Ajanata art

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  Michael's Gate in Bratislava, Slovakia

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  St. Louis Gateway Arch

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  A Chinese Paifang at Foshan, China

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  Warsaw University main gate, Poland

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  Gate of Farm Gunsteling in Namibia (2017)

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  Thai Temple (wat) gate at Wat Suan Dok, Chiang Mai

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  A gopuram, Hindu temple gate tower, in Sri Lanka

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  A Japanese temple gate (mon) at Eiheiji

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  A Moorish architecture gate in Alhambra, Granada, Spain

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  A French-manner gate of the embassy of Thailand in Paris

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  Adapted-Korean-manner gate of the embassy of South Korea in Moscow

See also

• Bab (gateway)
• Barrier
• Boom barrier (a.k.a. boom gate)
• Border
• Gate tower
• Gopuram
• Leave the gate as you found it
• Portal (architecture)
• Portcullis
• Threshold (disambiguation)
• Triumphal arch
• List of scandals with "-gate" suffix
• Watergate, as used in politics