tunnel

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a passageway through or under something, usually underground, especially one for trains or cars

   The tunnel reduced congestion at the narrow intersection.

2. 2
   noun

   a hole made by an animal, usually for shelter

   The spider came out of the tunnel to catch insects.

3. 3
   verb

   to force a way through

   We will have to tunnel the crowd to get to the exit.

4. 4
   verb

   move through by or as by digging

   The miners tunnel through the rock to find the gold.

5. 5
   noun

   An underground or underwater passage.

   In 1865 an outfit called the East London Railway Company bought the Brunel tunnel for £800,000, and in 1869 they opened a railway through it.

6. 6
   noun

   A passage through or under some obstacle.

   But very soon he grew to like it, for the Boy used to talk to him, and made nice tunnels for him under the bedclothes that he said were like the burrows the real rabbits lived in.

7. 7
   noun

   The opening of a chimney for the passage of smoke; a flue.

   And one great chimney, whose long tonnell thence, / The smoke forth threw

8. 8
   noun

   Anything that resembles a tunnel.

   Especially in the Eden Valley, trees create what is almost a green tunnel (particularly in summer).

Etymology

From Middle French tonnelle (“net”) or tonel (“cask”), diminutive of Old French tonne (“cask”), a word of uncertain origin and affiliation. Related to Old English tunne (“tun; cask; barrel”). More at tun.