tunnel en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
- /ˈtʌn(ə)l/
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *temh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *tend- Proto-Indo-European *tondeh₂ Proto-Celtic *tondā Gaulishbor.? Medieval Latin tunna Old French tone Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lus Latin -ellus Old French -el Old French tonelbor. Middle English tonnel English tunnel From Middle English tonnel, from Old French tonel(e), diminutive of tone (“cask”), a word of uncertain origin and affiliation. Related to Old English tunne (“tun; cask; barrel”). More at tun.
Meanings
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An underground or underwater passage.
In 1865 an outfit called the East London Railway Company bought the Brunel tunnel for £800,000, and in 1869 they opened a railway through it.
2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 90:
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A passage through or under some obstacle.
There are more than 1,500 railway tunnels in Britain and the majority are still in use, carrying working tracks beneath Britain's most inconvenient geographic features.
2020 August 26, Tim Dunn, “Great railway bores of our time!”, in Rail, page 42:Tunnels often feature in fictional journeys, so I will end with quotations from a fairly recent novel, Howard Spring's "Fame is the Spur", published in 1940, in which there is a journey from Manchester to Bradford via the Calder Valley route: "Ay, we're going through Todmorden. We'll soon be in t' tunnel, and when we get to t' other end we'll be in Yorkshire," and "Ah think this is t' filthiest tunnel in t' world."
1957 May 14, Neil Caplan, “Railways in English Fiction”, in Railway Magazine, page 350:But very soon he grew to like it, for the Boy used to talk to him, and made nice tunnels for him under the bedclothes that he said were like the burrows the real rabbits lived in.
1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
- A hole in the ground made by an animal, a burrow.
- A wrapper for a protocol that cannot otherwise be used because it is unsupported, blocked, or insecure.
- A vessel with a broad mouth at one end, a pipe or tube at the other, for conveying liquor, fluids, etc., into casks, bottles, or other vessels; a funnel.
-
The opening of a chimney for the passage of smoke; a flue.
And one great chimney, whose long tonnell thence, / The smoke forth threw
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 29:
- A level passage driven across the measures, or at right angles to veins which it is desired to reach; distinguished from the drift, or gangway, which is led along the vein when reached by the tunnel.
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(figuratively) Anything that resembles a tunnel.
Especially in the Eden Valley, trees create what is almost a green tunnel (particularly in summer).
2021 October 20, Mark Rand, “S&C: a line fit for tourists... and everyone?”, in RAIL, number 942, page 43:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| tunnels | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
tunnellike · tunnelball · tunnelly · Eurotunnel · intratunnel · microtunnel · Chunnel · nanotunnel · tunnelist · asstunnel · tunnelful · tunnelway · subtunnel · intertunnel · tunnelable
Descendants
tunail · tunnel · τούνελ · 터널 · tunnel · トンネル · թունել · tunnel · tunnel · tunell · tunnel · tunneli · tunell · tonnel · tunel · tunnel · тунне́ль · tunnel · tùnēl · túnel · tunel · túnel · tunnel · Tunnel
Hyponyms
base tunnel · summit tunnel · running tunnel
Translations (119)
fr tunnel (an underground or underwater passage) · hu alagút (an underground or underwater passage) · ms tembusan (an underground or underwater passage) · ota لغم (an underground or underwater passage) · lt tunelis (an underground or underwater passage) · sl predor (an underground or underwater passage) · ru тунне́ль (an underground or underwater passage) · as সুড়ঙ্গ (an underground or underwater passage) · gu ટનલ (an underground or underwater passage) · kn ಸುರಂಗ (an underground or underwater passage) · de Stollen (an underground or underwater passage) · et tunnel (an underground or underwater passage) · mt mina (an underground or underwater passage) · bn সুড়ঙ্গ (an underground or underwater passage) · kk түнел (an underground or underwater passage) · eo tunelo (an underground or underwater passage) · vi hầm (an underground or underwater passage) · he מִנהָרָה (an underground or underwater passage) · km ឧម្មុង្គ (an underground or underwater passage) · yue 坑道 (an underground or underwater passage) · fo tunnil (an underground or underwater passage) · tr tünel (an underground or underwater passage) · pdt Ieedgank (an underground or underwater passage) · ja 隧道 (an underground or underwater passage) · ja 坑道 (an underground or underwater passage) · gd tunail (an underground or underwater passage) · nl tunnel (an underground or underwater passage) · vi đường hầm (an underground or underwater passage) · mn туннел (an underground or underwater passage) · yi טונעל (an underground or underwater passage) · mr सुरंग (an underground or underwater passage) · cmn 坑道 (an underground or underwater passage) · es túnel (an underground or underwater passage) · ga tollán (an underground or underwater passage) · ja 地下道 (an underground or underwater passage) · cy twnnel (an underground or underwater passage) · li tönnel (an underground or underwater passage) · ru тонне́ль (an underground or underwater passage) · vi hầm chui (an underground or underwater passage) · ota نفق (an underground or underwater passage) · ms terowongan (an underground or underwater passage) · yue 隧道 (an underground or underwater passage) · lv tunelis (an underground or underwater passage) · de Tunnel (an underground or underwater passage) · tk tonnel (an underground or underwater passage) · fi tunneli (an underground or underwater passage) · pt túnel (an underground or underwater passage) · sh tùnēl (an underground or underwater passage) · yue 地下道 (an underground or underwater passage) · ky туннель (an underground or underwater passage) · mi arapoka (an underground or underwater passage) · uk туне́ль (an underground or underwater passage) · ht tinèl (an underground or underwater passage) · it galleria (an underground or underwater passage) · tk tunel (an underground or underwater passage) · sh ту̀не̄л (an underground or underwater passage) · vec stol (an underground or underwater passage) · mr भुयार (an underground or underwater passage) · my လိုဏ်ခေါင်း (an underground or underwater passage) · sv tunnel (an underground or underwater passage) · la crypta (an underground or underwater passage) · pl tunel (an underground or underwater passage) · tg нақб (an underground or underwater passage) · mi ara kūtoro (an underground or underwater passage) · nb tunnel (an underground or underwater passage) · kw kowfordh (an underground or underwater passage) · id lorong (an underground or underwater passage) · sk tunel (an underground or underwater passage) · it tunnel (an underground or underwater passage) · io tunelo (an underground or underwater passage) · hy թունել (an underground or underwater passage) · ar نَفَق (an underground or underwater passage) · id terowongan (an underground or underwater passage) · mr बोगदा (an underground or underwater passage) · da tunnel (an underground or underwater passage) · gl túnel (an underground or underwater passage) · ms terowong (an underground or underwater passage) · fy tunnel (an underground or underwater passage) · nn tunell (an underground or underwater passage) · ja トンネル (an underground or underwater passage) · cmn 隧道 (an underground or underwater passage) · fa-ira تونِل (an underground or underwater passage) · is undirgöng (an underground or underwater passage) · aii ܚܠܵܠܵܐ (an underground or underwater passage) · ka გვირაბი (an underground or underwater passage) · sd سِرِنگھَه (an underground or underwater passage) · ur سُرَن٘گ (an underground or underwater passage) · it cunicolo (an underground or underwater passage) · be тунэ́ль (an underground or underwater passage) · acw نَفَق (an underground or underwater passage) · sq tunel (an underground or underwater passage) · ro tunel (an underground or underwater passage) · ko 갱도 (an underground or underwater passage) · nb tunell (an underground or underwater passage) · cs tunel (an underground or underwater passage) · tg туннел (an underground or underwater passage) · lo ອຸມົງ (an underground or underwater passage) · it traforo (an underground or underwater passage) · el σήραγγα (an underground or underwater passage) · ko 터널 (an underground or underwater passage) · hi सुरंग (an underground or underwater passage) · tg тунел (an underground or underwater passage) · az tunel (an underground or underwater passage) · af tonnel (an underground or underwater passage) · is göng (an underground or underwater passage) · cmn 地下道 (an underground or underwater passage) · mk ту́нел (an underground or underwater passage) · ko 땅굴 (an underground or underwater passage) · aii ܚܘܼܠܵܢܵܐ (an underground or underwater passage) · ota تونل (an underground or underwater passage) · my ဥမင် (an underground or underwater passage) · uz tunnel (an underground or underwater passage) · la cuniculus (an underground or underwater passage) · nn tunnel (an underground or underwater passage) · os туннель (an underground or underwater passage) · bg туне́л (an underground or underwater passage) · th อุโมงค์ (an underground or underwater passage) · mfe tinel (an underground or underwater passage) · tg тоннел (an underground or underwater passage)