tunnel
Use Tunnel in a sentence
tun·nel
[tuhn-l] noun, verb, tun·neled, tun·nel·ing or ( especially British ) tun·nelled, tun·nel·ling. 
l noun
1.
an underground passage.
2.
a passageway, as for trains or automobiles, through or under an obstruction, as a city, mountain, river, harbor, or the like.
3.
an approximately horizontal gallery or corridor in a mine.
4.
the burrow of an animal.
5.
Dialect. a funnel.
verb (used with object)
6.
to construct a passageway through or under: to tunnel a mountain.
7.
to make or excavate (a tunnel or underground passage): to tunnel a passage under a river.
8.
to move or proceed by or as if by boring a tunnel: The river tunneled its way through the mountain.
9.
to pierce or hollow out, as with tunnels.
00:10
Tunnel
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:
| to run away hurriedly; flee. |
| to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable. |
verb (used without object)
10.
to make a tunnel or tunnels: to tunnel through the Alps.
Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English tonel (noun) < Middle French tonele, tonnelle funnel-shaped net, feminine of tonnel cask, diminutive of tonne tun; see -elle
1400–50; late Middle English tonel (noun) < Middle French tonele, tonnelle funnel-shaped net, feminine of tonnel cask, diminutive of tonne tun; see -elle
Related forms
tun·nel·er; especially British, tun·nel·ler, noun
tun·nel·like, adjective
sub·tun·nel, noun
un·tun·neled, adjective
un·tun·nelled, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To tunnel
Collins
World English Dictionary
tunnel (ˈtʌnəl) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | an underground passageway, esp one for trains or cars that passes under a mountain, river, or a congested urban area |
| 2. | any passage or channel through or under something |
| 3. | a dialect word for funnel |
| 4. | obsolete the flue of a chimney |
| —vb , -nels, -nelling, -nelled, -nels, -neling, -neled | |
| 5. | (tr) to make or force (a way) through or under (something): to tunnel a hole in the wall; to tunnel the cliff |
| 6. | (intr; |
| [C15: from Old French tonel cask, from tonne tun, from Medieval Latin tonna barrel, of Celtic origin] | |
| 'tunneller | |
| —n | |
| 'tunneler | |
| —n | |
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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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
tunnel
c.1440, "funnel-shaped net for catching birds," from M.Fr. tonnelle "net," or tonel "cask," dim. of O.Fr. tonne "tun, cask for liquids," possibly from the same source as O.E. tunne (see tun). Sense of "tube, pipe" (1545) developed in Eng. and led to sense of "underground passage,"
which is first attested 1765, about five years after the first modern tunnel was built (on the Grand Trunk Canal in England). This sense subsequently has been borrowed into Mod.Fr. (1878). The earlier native word for this was mine. Meaning "burrow of an animal" is from 1873. The verb meaning "excavate underground" is first attested 1795. Tunnel vision first recorded 1949. The fig. phrase light at the end of the tunnel is attested from 1922.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
tunnel tun·nel (tŭn'əl)
n.
A passage located through or under a barrier.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Example sentences
It's not too difficult to train people to get good lift over drag positions in a wind tunnel.
GM is adding extra steel braces to the steel tunnel to further protect the battery.
The companies, and researchers trying to produce fuel from algae have tunnel vision.
There's a bunch of railway workers stuck in a tunnel and a trolley hurtling towards them.
Idioms & Phrases
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Nearby Words
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