runnel
Americannoun
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a small stream; brook; rivulet.
-
a small channel, as for water.
noun
Etymology
Origin of runnel
First recorded in 1570–80; run (in the sense “small stream”) + -el diminutive suffix
Explanation
A very small stream is a runnel. You might entertain yourself by floating tiny paper boats down the runnel that streams through the woods behind your house. In Old English a stream was a ryne, and a teeny tiny stream was a rynel, the source of runnel. You could also call it a "rivulet," "channel," or "streamlet." As well as the runnels in nature, branching off from brooks and streams, you might use it to describe someone's perspiring forehead: "It was so hot that there were runnels of sweat running down his face."
Vocabulary lists containing runnel
The Devil's Arithmetic
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"The Odyssey," Vocabulary from Part 2 of the epic poem
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Dune
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The road ran like a twisty runnel through fuchsia hedges and bright fields of buttercups and cow parsley, up to a pass among the 3,000-foot Slieve Mish mountains.
From New York Times • Aug. 12, 2019
Shy time that dives into the wings, too embarrassed to acknowledge the applause, dense, like a runnel attacking.
From New York Times • Sep. 3, 2017
Every runnel was a Rubicon where every ditch was a last ditch.
From New York Times • Nov. 22, 2016
A runnel of sweat curled down her calf.
From The New Yorker • Apr. 25, 2011
“There’s a passage there. Steep and twisty at first, a runnel through the rock. If you can reach it, you’ll be safe.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
