culvert

American  

[kuhl-vert] / ˈkʌl vərt /

noun

• culverts
  plural

1. a drain or channel crossing under a road, sidewalk, etc.; sewer; conduit.

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culvert British  

/ ˈkʌlvət /

noun

1. a drain or covered channel that crosses under a road, railway, etc

2. a channel for an electric cable

3. a tunnel through which water is pumped into or out of a dry dock

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• culverts
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of culvert

First recorded in 1765–75; origin uncertain

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Explanation

A culvert is a drain — but not the kind that drains your bathtub or empties your bank account. A culvert is any kind of channel or tunnel that directs unwanted water away from roads and other corridors of travel. A culvert is typically built underground to prevent inconveniently located streams and rain runoff from flooding roads, highways, streets, and railroads. Culvert can also be used as a verb: if water pools in your driveway and then seeps into the foundation of your house, soaking the brand-new carpet in the basement that you thought you’d just waterproofed, you might wonder why the builders didn’t culvert that underground stream.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

culvert culverts

Ducking into Maryam Lashkari, Hodjat Salimi and Oscar Tuazon’s interactive sculpture — an enormous cardboard tube lying on its side — feels like entering a culvert or a bomb shelter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

Hottle and another passenger were in a 1995 Honda Accord driven by a 19-year-old man when it veered off a two-lane highway and struck a culvert, according to Frederick County Sheriff's Office.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

Hottle died Tuesday morning after the car she was a passenger in crashed into a culvert off the side of the road in Ijamsville, Md., the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

A lawyer for Fiona Donohoe, Noah's mother, explained to the inquest that the teenager died after "having got access through a hatch or bars" at the culvert.

From BBC ● May 8, 2026

He eased his feet in, holding the fluted steel edge of the culvert with both hands.

From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko

He navigated through culverts and climbed a steep hill of about 300 feet before hitting a hiking trail.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2026

Sometimes at the bottom of those undulations are culverts, or Department of Homeland Security vehicles will pop up.

From Slate ● Feb. 2, 2026

While councils had spent heavily to repair and upgrade infrastructure in the wake of recent storms, the report found there were still issues with culverts in many places.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2025

An illustration can help the community recognize potential threats, whether from the air or from culverts beneath their buildings, and see where testing and guidance are needed.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2024

Well out from either bank stood four low arches—scarcely more than culverts, each filled by the stream to within a foot of the apex.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

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Related Words

• duct
• gutter
• pipe

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