tunnel

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

Noun

tunnel (plural tunnels)

1. An underground or underwater passage.
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.
   • Spenser

     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.

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.
2. (intransitive) To make a tunnel.
3. (transitive, medicine) To insert a catheter into a vein to allow long-term use.
4. (physics) quantum mechanical phenomenon where a particle penetrated through a barrier that it classically cannot surmount

Related terms

• light at the end of the tunnel
• tunnel head
• tunnel kiln
• tunneller
• tunnel net
• tunnel vision
• wind tunnel

Anagrams

• nunlet, unlent

Noun

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

1. tunnel

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

tunnel m (plural tunnels, diminutive tunneltje n)

1. tunnel

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ty.nɛl/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

tunnel m (plural tunnels)

1. tunnel

Further reading

• “tunnel” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Etymology

Borrowed from English tunnel.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

tunnel m (invariable)

1. tunnel

Alternative forms

• tunell

Noun

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

1. a tunnel

References

• “tunnel” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Alternative forms

• tunell

Noun

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

1. a tunnel

References

• “tunnel” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

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.