cul-de-sac

noun, plural culs-de-sac

[kuhlz-duh-sak, -sak, koo

lz-; French kyduh-sak] .

a street, lane, etc., closed at one end; blind alley; dead-end street.

any situation in which further progress is impossible.

the hemming in of a military force on all sides except behind.

Anatomy. a saclike cavity, tube, or the like, open only at one end, as the cecum.

Origin:
1730–40; < French: literally, bottom of the sack

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To cul-de-sac

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Cul-de-sac is always a great word to know.

So is umbilical cord. Does it mean:

a cord connecting the embryo or fetus with the placenta of the mother and transporting nourishment from the mother and wastes from the fetus

one of the two organs in the back of the abdominal cavity that excrete urine, regulate fluid and electrolytes, and act as endocrine glands

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Collins

World English Dictionary

cul-de-sac (ˈkʌldəˌsæk, ˈkʊl-)

—n , pl culs-de-sac, cul-de-sacs
1.	a road with one end blocked off; dead end
2.	an inescapable position
3.	any tube-shaped bodily cavity or pouch closed at one end, such as the caecum

[C18: from French, literally: bottom of the bag]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

cul-de-sac

1738, as an anatomical term, from Fr., lit. "bottom of a sack," from L. culus "bottom" (for second element, see sack (n.1)). Application to streets and alleys is from 1800.

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

cul-de-sac (kŭl'dĭ-sāk', k&oobreve;l'-)
n. pl. culs-de-sac (kŭlz'-, k&oobreve;lz'-) or cul-de-sacs
A saclike cavity or tube open only at one end.

Matching Quote

"Nearly a million species of animals are already known. Of these, only a few thousand are endowed with anything which can be called intelligence, only a few tens with high intelligence, and only one with conceptual thought. In the same way, there are hundreds of known religions; it had better be left to more orthodox writers than myself to enumerate those which can be called high religions. Animal evolution witnesses to a central upward trend of biological progress; it also shows us the retention of low types along with high, the throwing out of blind-alley side branches of specialisation at every level, and sometimes even degeneration. Religious evolution also shows a central progress—but equally the production of bizarre side-branches, the permanent confining of the religious spirit in low-level embodiments, its projection into every conceivable cul-de-sac, its too frequent bending over from upward to downward growth."

-Julian Huxley

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