I. ˈtən ə l noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English tonel, from Middle French tonel, tonnel cask, tun, from Old French, from tonne tun, from Medieval Latin tunna, tonna barrel, tun, of Celtic origin; akin to Middle Irish tonn skin, hide, Welsh ton; akin to Latin tondēre to shear, crop — more at tome
1. : tunnel net 1
2.
a. archaic : a chimney flue
b. dialect : funnel
c. : a hollow conduit or recess : tube , well
drive shaft tunnel
drying tunnel
specifically : shaft tunnel
d. : a bodily channel
a more or less circular tunnel , the neural canal — W.E.Swinton
e. : wind tunnel
3.
a. : a covered passageway
the tunnel of a long nave — George Santayana
specifically : a nearly horizontal passageway through or under an obstruction
railroad tunnel through a mountain
take the midtown tunnel from Long Island to New York
b.
(1) : a subterranean gallery (as in a cave or mine)
(2) : adit
c. : a narrow enclosed pressurized corridor connecting two pressurized personnel compartments of an airplane
d. : the burrow of an insect or other animal
mole's tunnel
termite tunnels in beams
e. : something that resembles a corridor
a tunnel of trees
headlights created their own tunnel of light — Paul Scott
trapped in the tunnel of their own logic — Douglas Stewart
specifically : an arch formed by partners' joined hands in a square dance
II. verb
( tunneled or tunnelled ; tunneled or tunnelled ; tunneling or tunnelling -n( ə )liŋ ; tunnels )
transitive verb
1. archaic : to catch in a tunnel net
2.
a. : to pass through a covered channel : advance by or as if by excavating a tunnel
belt tunneled through wide black patent girdle — Women's Wear Daily
larvae … tunneling their way through the cappings — Gleanings in Bee Culture
b. : to penetrate with or as if with a tunnel : make a passage through or under
the acid water … tunneled it, so that it is honeycombed — Marjory S. Douglas
lights tunnel the darkness
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to make or use a tunnel
with a view to keeping the gradient down … proposed to tunnel under the ridge — O.S.Nock
a creaking train … tunneled through the hill — J.A.Michener
b. : undermine
appeared to be tunneling under all the established values — Sherwood Anderson
2. physics : to pass through a potential barrier
electrons … tunnel back to the vacant sites — Frederick Seitz
III. noun
: curl herein