tunnel

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See also: Tunnel

English

a tunnel [1-2] in Wuppertal

Etymology

From Middle French tonnelle (“net”) or tonel (“cask”), diminutive of Old French tonne (“cask”), a word of uncertain origin and affiliation. Related to Old English tunne (“tun; cask; barrel”). More at tun.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtʌn(ə)l/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌnəl
  • Hyphenation: tun‧nel

Noun

tunnel (plural tunnels)

  1. An underground or underwater passage.
    • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 90:
      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.
  2. A passage through or under some obstacle.
    • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
      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.
  3. A hole in the ground made by an animal, a burrow.
  4. (computing, networking) A wrapper for a protocol that cannot otherwise be used because it is unsupported, blocked, or insecure.
  5. 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.
  6. The opening of a chimney for the passage of smoke; a flue.
    • (Can we date this quote by Spenser and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      And one great chimney, whose long tunnel thence / The smoke forth threw.
  7. (mining) 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.

Translations

Verb

tunnel (third-person singular simple present tunnels, present participle (UK) tunnelling or (US) tunneling, simple past and past participle (UK) tunnelled or (US) tunneled)

  1. (transitive) To make a tunnel through or under something; to burrow.
    • 2019 October, Ruth Bagley tells James Abbott, “Crunch time for Heathrow western link”, in Modern Railways, page 74:
      The 6.5km route is agreed from a junction with the relief lines of the Great Western main line to the west of Slough, the new link would tunnel under the M25 to reach Heathrow's Terminal 5 station, where space has been set aside to accommodate services from the west.
  2. (intransitive) To dig a tunnel.
  3. (computing, networking) To transmit something through a tunnel (wrapper for insecure or unsupported protocol).
  4. (transitive, medicine) To insert a catheter into a vein to allow long-term use.
  5. (physics) To undergo the quantum-mechanical phenomenon where a particle penetrates through a barrier that it classically cannot surmount.

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun or verb tunnel

Further reading

Anagrams

Danish

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da

Noun

tunnel c (definite singular tunnelen or tunnellen, indefinite plural tunneler or tunneller, definite plural tunnelerne or tunnellerne)

  1. tunnel

Derived terms

Dutch

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Etymology

Borrowed from English tunnel, from Middle French tonnelle.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtʏ.nəl/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: tun‧nel

Noun

tunnel m (plural tunnels, diminutive tunneltje n)

  1. tunnel

Derived terms

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English tunnel, itself a borrowing from French tonnelle; hence a reborrowing. Doublet of tonnelle.

Pronunciation

Noun

tunnel m (plural tunnels)

  1. tunnel

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English tunnel.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈt̪un.nel], /ˈtunnel/
  • Hyphenation: tùn‧nel

Noun

tunnel m (uncountable)

  1. tunnel
    Synonyms: galleria, traforo

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Alternative forms

Noun

tunnel m (definite singular tunnelen, indefinite plural tunneler, definite plural tunnelene)

  1. a tunnel

Derived terms

Terms derived from tunnel

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Alternative forms

Etymology

From English tunnel, Middle French tonnelle (“net”) or tonel (“cask”), diminutive of Old French tonne (“cask”), a word of uncertain origin and affiliation.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tʉˈnɛlː/, /ˈtʉnːɛl/

Noun

tunnel m (definite singular tunnelen, indefinite plural tunnelar, definite plural tunnelane)

  1. a tunnel

Derived terms

Terms derived from tunnel

References

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

tunnel c

  1. tunnel
    1. An underground or underwater passage.
    2. A passage through or under some obstacle.
    3. A hole in the ground made by an animal, a burrow.

Declension

Declension of tunnel 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative tunnel tunneln tunnlar tunnlarna
Genitive tunnels tunnelns tunnlars tunnlarnas
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