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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Tunnel

Tūn'nel, n.

noun

n. [From tun. Cf. Fr. tonnelle, a semi-circular, wagon-headed vault, a tunnel-net, an arbor, from tonne, a tun. See TUN.] 1. A vessel with a broad mouth at one end, and a pipe or tube at the other, for conveying liquor into casks, bottles, or other vessels; a funnel. And one great chimney, whose long tunnel thence The smoke forth threw. Spenser.

  1. The opening of a chimney for the passage of smoke; a flue; a funnel.
  2. An artificial arch or passage for conducting canals or railroads under elevated ground, for the formation of roads under rivers or canals, and the construction of sewers, drains, and the like.
  3. (Mining.) A level passage driven across the measures, or at right angles to the veins which its object is to reach; and thus distinguished from the drift or gangway, which is led along the vein when reached by the tunnel.

Tŭn'nel, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. TUNNELED, or TUNNELLED; p. pr. & vb. n. TUNNELING, or TUNNELLING.]

  1. To form into a tunnel, or like a tunnel; as, to tunnel fibrous plants into nests.
  2. To catch in a tunnel-net.
  3. To form with net-work. [Rare.] Derham.
  4. To make an opening or way for passage through, as a hill or mountain, or under, as a river.