tunnel

[tuhn-l]

noun

1. an underground passage.

2. a passageway, as for trains or automobiles, through or under an obstruction, as a city, mountain, river, harbor, or the like.

3. an approximately horizontal gallery or corridor in a mine.

4. the burrow of an animal.

5. Dialect.,  a funnel.

verb (used with object)

tunneled, tunneling , tunnelled, tunnelling .

1. to construct a passageway through or under.

   to tunnel a mountain.

2. to make or excavate (a tunnel or underground passage).

   to tunnel a passage under a river.

3. to move or proceed by or as if by boring a tunnel.

   The river tunneled its way through the mountain.

4. to pierce or hollow out, as with tunnels.

verb (used without object)

tunneled, tunneling , tunnelled, tunnelling .

1. to make a tunnel or tunnels.

   to tunnel through the Alps.

tunnel

/ ˈtʌnəl /

noun

1. an underground passageway, esp one for trains or cars that passes under a mountain, river, or a congested urban area

2. any passage or channel through or under something

3. a dialect word for funnel

4. obsolete,  the flue of a chimney

verb

1. (tr) to make or force (a way) through or under (something)

   to tunnel a hole in the wall

   to tunnel the cliff

2. (intr; foll by through, under, etc) to make or force a way (through or under something)

   he tunnelled through the bracken

Other Word Forms

• tunneller noun
• tunneler noun
• tunnellike adjective
• subtunnel noun
• untunneled adjective
• untunnelled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of tunnel¹

1400–50; late Middle English tonel (noun) < Middle French tonele, tonnelle funnel-shaped net, feminine of tonnel cask, diminutive of tonne tun; -elle

Word History and Origins

Origin of tunnel¹

C15: from Old French tonel cask, from tonne tun, from Medieval Latin tonna barrel, of Celtic origin

Idioms and Phrases

see light at the end of the tunnel.

Example Sentences

Three months later, they said a released hostage who spent time with him in a tunnel had told them how he had acted as a "spokesman to the captors" and "lifted everyone's spirits".

Read more on BBC

They cheered for everyone—riders, team cars, traffic marshals, police motorcycles—creating a vibrating tunnel of noise.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Hamas officials have said in recent interviews that retrieving bodies of dead hostages will take time, as many are in collapsed or bombed-out tunnels or under the rubble.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Then he trudged back toward the dugout, collected his equipment and disappeared into the tunnel.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Two tunnels ran from fore to aft, right beneath the deck.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• channel 
• hole 
• mine 
• pit 
• shaft 
• subway 
• underpass