culvert

American  

[kuhl-vert] / ˈkʌl vərt /

noun

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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Etymology

Origin of culvert

First recorded in 1765–75; origin uncertain

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

Still, he defended the city’s efforts, citing such projects as a $60 million plan to help combat flooding at Hooffs Run Culvert Bypass.

From Washington Post • Aug. 15, 2021

Taylors Landing and the Brunswick Boat Ramp were shut down on Friday, and the towpath bridge washed out over Culvert 82 near Brunswick.

From Washington Post • May 19, 2018

Culvert traps, which are usually foolproof and effective, couldn�t catch the nuisance grizzly.

From Time Magazine Archive

They ranged from Reginald Anderson's Figures, a spiky, thin-air abstraction, to Roland Thompson's carefully realistic Culvert.

From Time Magazine Archive

I am not well pleased by the Arrangement since we is in some kind Culvert & I am in continual Fears of us all being washed away by Floods.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

Related Words

• duct
• gutter
• pipe