duct

American  

[duhkt] / dʌkt /

noun

1. any tube, canal, pipe, or conduit by which a fluid, air, or other substance is conducted or conveyed.

2. Anatomy, Zoology. a tube, canal, or vessel conveying a body fluid, especially a glandular secretion or excretion.

3. Botany. a cavity or vessel formed by elongated cells or by many cells.

4. Electricity. a single enclosed runway for conductors or cables.

5. Printing. (in a press) the reservoir for ink.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to convey or channel by means of a duct or ducts.

   Heat from the oven is ducted to the outside.

duct British  

/ dʌkt /

noun

1. a tube, pipe, or canal by means of which a substance, esp a fluid or gas, is conveyed

2. any bodily passage, esp one conveying secretions or excretions

3. a narrow tubular cavity in plants, often containing resin or some other substance

4. Also called: conduit.  a channel or pipe carrying electric cable or wires

5. a passage through which air can flow, as in air conditioning

6. the ink reservoir in a printing press

---

duct Scientific  

/ dŭkt /

1. A tube or tubelike structure through which something flows, especially a tube in the body for carrying a fluid secreted that is by a gland.

---

Other Word Forms

• ductless adjective

Etymology

Origin of duct

First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin ductus “conveyance (of water),” hence “channel” (in Medieval Latin ), equivalent to duc- (variant stem of dūcere “to lead”) + -tus suffix of verbal action

Example Sentences

Their targets are usually cable ducts along railway lines, radio masts or power supply systems.

From Barron's

The duct-tape solution assumes you have duct tape — but the West’s is now in China because it was cheaper.

From MarketWatch

The electrical grid is held together with duct tape.

From The Wall Street Journal

And the defensive guru’s first order of business was not attacking game planning for the Green Wave, but duct taping the Rebels back together.

From The Wall Street Journal

When hydrogen had built up in the unit 3 building, it had backed up into unit 4, too, and been sparked into an explosion in the air ducts on the building’s fourth floor.

From Literature

Related Words

• conduit
• tube