▪ I. tunnel, n.
(ˈtʌnəl)
Forms: 5–7 tonel, 6 -ell, 6–7 tonnel, -ell, tunell, 6–8 tunnell, (7 tunill), 6– tunnel; see also tonnel.
[a. OF. tonel masc., in mod.F. tonneau tun, cask, and the fem. derivative tonnelle, to which the early Eng. in sense 1 corresponds. The sense of ‘tube, pipe, opening’ and its extensions are of Eng. development, and for that of ‘subterranean passage’ tunnel has been adopted in mod.F. (in Dict. Acad. 1878) from English.]
1. a. A net for catching partridges or water-fowl, having a pipe-like passage with a wide opening, and narrowing towards the end; a tunnel-net. ? Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 496/2 Tonel, to take byrdys, obvolutorium. 1538 York Wills (Surtees) VI. 85 To Brian Lelome all my partrike nettes called a tonnell. 1611 Cotgr., Tonnelle, a Tunnell, or staulking horse for Partridges. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 731 To take Partridges with the Tonnell, or Tombrell, there must a man be placed behind a Cow or a Horse, of wood, or of osier, painted in..the fashion of a Cow or a Horse. 1710 Act 9 Anne c. 27 §5 The pernicious Practice of driving and taking [Wild Fowl] with Hayes Tunnells and other Nets in the Fens. 1822 Sporting Mag. IX. 177 A tunnel..(a net used in taking game). |
b. ‘The funnel-shaped conductor leading from the
heart to the pound in a pound-net’ (Knight
Dict. Mech. Suppl. 1884).
† 2. a. The shaft or flue of a chimney.
Obs.| 1508 Stanbridge Vulgaria (W. de W.) A vj b, Infumibulum, the tonell [printed towell] of the chymnaye. 1510 ― Vocab. (W. de W.) B ij b, Infunibulum, a tunnell of a chymney. 1530 Palsgr. 282/1 Tonnell [283/2 Tunnell] of a chymney, tuyau. 1595 in Archæologia LXIV. 374 Opening y⊇ tunnel in y⊇ low bakt mete house. 1680 Aubrey Lives, Bacon (1898) I. 78 The tunnells of the chimneys were carried into the middle of the howse. c 1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 4 The Chimney is just under the window and the Tunnells runnes upon each side. 1818 Scott Rob Roy v, The fire..roared, blazed, and ascended, half in smoke, half in flame, up a huge tunnel, with an opening wide enough to accomodate a stone seat within its ample vault. |
† b. A pipe or tube in general. Now
rare.
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 144 Let the woman set her selfe..on a couar made for the nonce with a tunnel or cundyte. 1601 Holland Pliny xvii. xxi. I. 528 Let them passe..through..an earthen pipe or tunnell. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 248 It [the island Volcano] had three tunnels whereat it evaporated fire. 1642 Rogers Naaman (1662) 3 By and with them [miracles] as by Tunnels, the influence, power and authority of truth might enter and prevaile. 1890 [see tunnelled 1 b]. |
† c. fig. pl. Applied to the nostrils (as a passage for tobacco-smoke).
Obs. humorous nonce-use.
| 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. iii, He dos take this same filthy roguish tabacco,..it would doe a man good to see the fume come forth at 's tonnells! |
3. A funnel.
Obs. exc. dial.| a 1529 Skelton El. Rummyng 403 Another..brought a pottel pycher, A tonnel, and a bottell. 1530 Palsgr. 282/1 Tonnell to fyll wyne with, antonnoyr. 1601 Holland Pliny xxx. vi. II. 381 Given in drink and swallowed downe by a pipe or tunill. 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. lxxxix. 157 Be careful that..it fit thy Funnel or Tunnel. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) III. 251 For the Bottle, you cannot well fill it, Without a Tunnel. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xv. (ed. 2) 286 Cocks, pipes, tunnels, for transferring the cyder from one vessel to another. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Tunnel, s. a funnel,..in constant use. 1863 Mrs. Toogood Yorks. Dial. (MS.), Pour the wine thro the tunnel into the bottle. |
4. a. A subterranean passage; a road-way excavated under ground,
esp. under a hill or mountain, or beneath the bed of a river: now most commonly on a railway; also in earliest use on a canal, in a mine, etc. (The chief current sense.)
| 1765 T. Lowndes Let. 1 July in Hist. Inland Navigations (1766) i. 41 Mr. Brindley..is driving a large tunnel through the center of this hill. 1782 Pennant Journey 52 The most southern tunnel, as it is called, is at Hermitage. 1790 Jane Snow in A. C. Bower's Diaries & Corr. (1903) 105 We went through what they call a Tunnel—a passage through the Earth for the convenience of carrying Coals by Water: it is two miles and a half long, fifteen feet wide, the same high. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 366 At Orgon the canal de Boisgelin..is a noble work, but unfinished; it passes here in a tunnel four hundred and forty yards through a mountain. 1792 J. Phillips Hist. Inland Navig. xiv. 363 The celebrated tunnel through Harecastle-hill, Staffordshire, was cut under the direction of..Mr. Brindley [in 1766]. 1798 Monthly Mag. July 74 A cylindrical tunnel under the Thames from Gravesend to Tilbury. 1861 Sat. Rev. 23 Nov. 540 The projectors of a tunnel thirty miles long under the Channel. 1872 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 15 The vein has been attacked by various tunnels and shafts. |
b. An arched drain.
dial.| 1828 Craven Gloss., Tunnel, an arched drain. |
c. A working-hole in the wall of a glass-furnace.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 587 Two principal openings of the furnace... These are called tunnels. They are destined for the introduction of the pots and the fuel. |
d. transf. The burrow of an animal.
| 1873 Tristram Moab vii. 124 The burrows of the mole-rat, which does duty, in the making of runs and molehills, for the common mole, but excavates much larger tunnels. 1886 Burroughs Signs & Seasons (1895) 179 Through the tunnel of the meadow mouse the water rushes as through a pipe. |
e. A canal in an animal body resembling a tunnel, as that of the organ of Corti in the internal ear.
| 1882 Syd. Soc. Lex., Corti, organ of, a papillary-looking structure, stretching along the whole length of the canalis cochlearis... It is a sort of tunnel, composed of closely lying arches, the arches of Corti. 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases xxxiv. 525 The septa between the tunnels may break down and a considerable cavity be thus produced. |
f. Applied
fig. to a prolonged period of difficulty, suffering, etc. Freq. in
phr. light at the end of the tunnel and the like: a long-awaited sign that a period of hardship or adversity is nearing an end.
colloq.| 1879 Geo. Eliot Let. 7 July (1956) VII. 178 Though I am getting out of the tunnel into daylight, this renewal of weakness..makes it seem as if we should be wiser to defer the visit. 1899 H. James Awkward Age x. xxxvii. 437 We've worked through the dark tunnel of artificial reserves. 1922 J. M. Murry Let. in A. Alpers Life K. Mansfield (1980) xx. 359, I begin to feel that the horror may move away and that there is a big round spot of real daylight at the end of the tunnel. 1943 J. B. Priestley Daylight on Saturday xxxv. 283 The work..seemed to him a long way off,..seen at the end of a tunnel. It had retreated from him. 1971 Guardian 6 Sept. 2/5 The world has reached a crucial point in its drive to reduce illiteracy, UNESCO reports today. There is now ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. 1975 Ld. Robbins Against Inflation (1979) xviii. 89, I confess I do not understand the suggestion..that there is any strong light at the end of the tunnel, the way we are going now. |
g. Aeronaut. A wind tunnel (
wind n.1 32).
| 1911 A. P. Thurston Elem. Aeronautics viii. 84 The wind tunnel consists of a tube, passage or tunnel, through which air may be forced or drawn by means of rotating fans, steam jets, or the like. The tunnel may be vertical or horizontal. Sir Hiram Maxim used a horizontal tunnel... Dr Stanton used a wind tunnel..in which the current was vertical and downwards. 1930 Nayler & Ower Aviation 116 Essentially, the tunnel consists of a large tube..along which the air is drawn by means of a motor driving a fan. 1972 Nature 18 Aug. 379/2 A low density tunnel for simulating supersonic and hypersonic flight at altitudes of 20 to 70 miles. |
h. Sport. A subway or covered passage by which players pass to or from the field of play.
| 1950 Sport 24–30 Mar. 3/3 He..made for the tunnel under the impression that the game was over. 1976 S. Wales Echo 22 Nov., He..threw it towards the players' tunnel where the police were escorting the referee. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
tunnel-borer,
tunnel-boring,
tunnel darkness,
tunnel-drain,
tunnel excavation,
tunnel-maker,
tunnel-making,
tunnel-mouth,
tunnel-passage,
tunnel-way,
tunnel-worker,
tunnel-workman;
tunnel-like,
tunnel-shaped adjs.;
tunnel-anæmia,
= tunnel-disease (
a) (Dorland
Med. Dict. 1900–13);
tunnel-back local, the rear extension of a house, containing the scullery and other functional rooms; a house built in this style;
tunnel diode Electronics, a two-terminal semiconductor device, consisting of a heavily doped
p–n junction, which has negative resistance at low voltage due to quantum-mechanical tunnelling and is principally used as a high-speed switching device;
tunnel-disease, a disease incident to workers in tunnels, mines, etc.;
spec. (
a) a form of anæmia caused by an intestinal parasite, the
tunnel-worm (
Dochmius duodenalis or
Ankylostoma duodenale); (
b)
= caisson-
disease;
† tunnel dish, ? a funnel (
= sense 3;
cf. tun-dish);
tunnel effect Physics = tunnelling vbl. n. 3;
tunnel-head, (
a) the top of a shaft- or blast-furnace; (
b) the point to which the construction of a tunnel has progressed;
tunnel-hole, ‘the throat of a blast-furnace’ (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
tunnel-kiln (see
quot.);
tunnel-man, a workman employed in making a tunnel;
tunnel-net,
= sense 1; also a similar net for fishing;
tunnel of love, a fairground amusement involving a train- or boat-ride through a darkened tunnel, intended for courting couples;
tunnel-pit,
-shaft, a shaft sunk to the level of a tunnel;
tunnel-sickness,
= tunnel-disease;
tunnel-vault,
= barrel-vault (see
barrel n. 11);
tunnel vision, a condition in which there is a major loss of peripheral vision; also, one in which anything away from the centre of one's field of view escapes attention; also
fig., inability to see more than a single or limited point of view; hence
tunnel-visioned a.;
tunnel-weaver, a spider that weaves a tunnel-like underground web;
tunnel-worm, the parasitic nematode worm (see
tunnel-disease) which causes
tunnel-anæmia.
| 1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy i. 20 They have, almost city by city, their own recognizable styles of housing—back-to-backs here or *tunnel-backs there. 1981 C. Dexter Dead of Jericho vi. 52 No tunnel-backs to the houses, and so the bicycles had to be left outside. |
| 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Tunnel-borer, a ram, operated by compressed air, for making excavations through rock. 1899 J. Cagney tr. Jaksch's Clin. Diagn. vi. (ed. 4) 228 Where a severe form of anæmia occurs in labourers..especially.. brick-burners, miners, and tunnel-borers. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 29 Dec. 5/4 No Swiss are employed..because they have enough other work and do not care particularly for such employment as *tunnel-boring. |
| 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 123 Rich placer-mines formerly existed in many of the gulches, and several *tunnel-claims in the gravel-hills gave excellent profits. |
| 1839–48 Bailey Festus xxi. 273 Without God all things are in *tunnel darkness. |
| 1959 Proc. IRE XLVII. 1204/1 The *tunnel diode has a very high admittance. 1982 J. E. Uffenbeck Introd. Electronics i. 24 This switching property of the tunnel diode makes it suitable for digital applications. |
| 1887 19th Cent. Aug. 149 Italians who died from cholera in digging the Suez Canal, or from ‘*tunnel-disease’ in the St. Gothard Tunnel. 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases xxxvi. 537 In Europe it [i.e. ankylostomiasis] is sometimes known as ‘miner's anæmia’ or ‘tunnel disease’,..in allusion to the notorious Saint Gothard epidemic. |
| 1610 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons (1860) App. p. vii, Itm *tunnell dishes. |
| 1840 Marryat Olla Podr. III. 317 A long *tunnel drain. |
| 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 190 A *tunnel drive at the Dutchman Mine, to reach the ledge about 225 feet below the outcrop. |
| 1932 J. Frenkel Wave Mech. iii. 111 (heading) Transition through a potential energy mountain (*tunnel effect). 1974 G. Reece tr. Hund's Hist. Quantum Theory xiv. 187 A barrier is not completely impenetrable. In fact it allows..the ‘tunnel effect’. |
| 1843 H. Martineau Hill & Valley 79 They saw the filler at the *tunnel-head pouring in at the doors the materials that were furnished by the kilns. 1905 Daily News 24 Feb. 6 In the St. Gothard Tunnel there was much disease due to the imperfect sanitation and ventilation at the tunnel-head. |
| 1889 H. Drummond Trop. Africa vi. 133 As the Esquimaux heap up snow, building it into the low *tunnel-huts in which they live. |
| 1828 Webster, *Tunnel-kiln, a lime-kiln in which coal is burnt, as distinguished from a flame-kiln, in which wood or peat is used. 1901 Tunnel kiln [see continuous kiln s.v. continuous 3]. 1961 M. Kelly Spoilt Kill i. 11 We have gas-fired tunnel kilns now... There's very little coal firing left in the [pottery] industry. |
| 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abr. xlvi. 530 One of the shows of the place was a *tunnel-like cavern, which had been hewn in the glacier. 1885 Fortnight in Waggonette 51, I know no part of our complex system that requires more constant and careful attention than the tunnel-like way to the machinery within us. |
| 1894 Smiles J. Wedgwood x. 95 He had known him as a..*tunnel-maker. |
| 1910 *Tunnel-making [see road-building s.v. road n. 11 a]. 1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring 31, I know of no tunnel-making. |
| 1897 Daily News 25 Sept. 7/1 Average daily wages earned.., *tunnel-men, 9s. 10d. |
| 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 125 The scenes of extensive *tunnel-mining. |
| 1908 Daily Chron. 19 Aug. 1/7 Turning his head towards the *tunnel-mouth. |
| 1721 Bradley Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat. 131 The Figure of a *Tunnel-Net, disposed for catching all kind of Flies that come into it. 1828 Webster, Tunnel-net, a net with a wide mouth at one end and narrow at the other. 1840 [see tunnel v. 1 b]. 1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xxii. (1884) 165 The ‘tunnel net’..is a bow-net 8 or 10 feet long, the extreme end of which is stretched out and tied to a stake. |
| 1954 New Yorker 8 May 100/2 ‘And the lights!.. There are thirty-eight hundred on that ride alone. Why, even the World's Fair in its heyday—’ he cried, and then for a moment, words failed him. ‘And yet it's only a *Tunnel of Love!’ 1968 [see loop-the-loop n. s.v. loop v.1 6]. 1976 ‘W. Trevor’ Children of Dynmouth i. 13 The Hall of a Million Mirrors and the Tunnel of Love and Alfonso's and Annabella's Wall of Death were in the process of erection. |
| 1908 Sir H. Johnston Grenfell & Congo II. xxvi. 746 The *tunnel-passage goes straight to the river. |
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xx. (Roxb.) 232 The *Tunell pipe by which the water may be poured in. |
| 1828 Webster, *Tunnel-pit, a shaft sunk from the top of the ground to the level of an intended tunnel, for drawing up the earth and stones. |
| 1882 Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 638 *Tunnel-running is expensive, and where the depth..is not supposed to exceed 150 feet, a vertical prospect shaft is often sunk. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade., *Tunnel-shaft. |
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxx. 147 When retracted, they form a *tunnel-shaped cavity, varying in depth. |
| 1903 Strand Mag. July 98/2 Hundreds..had perished in the darkness and heat of the terrible ‘*tunnel sickness’. |
| 1870 Mrs. Whitney We Girls ix, Gathers and gores, *tunnel-skirts and barrel-skirts and paniers. |
| 1949 Snygg & Combs Individ. Behav. vi. 110 It has often been observed that in emotional experiences there exists a very high degree of attention sometimes referred to as ‘*tunnel vision’. Ibid. vii. 125 This narrowing of the field is particularly likely to occur when the individual feels he is threatened. The effect has sometimes been called ‘tunnel vision’. 1962 Times 3 Apr. 17/2 One of the dangers of ‘tunnel vision’ in driving was brought home to a motorist who recently took the test of the Institute of Advanced Motorists. 1967 Freedomways VII. 137 The confused black college graduate, thrust out into a hostile racist society and handicapped by tunnel vision and a self-negating perspective. 1968 New Scientist 29 Aug. 449/3 The alternative theory, that of ‘Tunnel Vision’. The idea here is that a high level of arousal causes the brain to select very narrowly from among the signals reaching the eyes. 1979 Daily Tel. 7 Apr. 3/2 He was now registered as blind. He had tunnel vision, but even this was imperfect... There was some brain damage. 1980 T. Barling Goodbye Piccadilly viii. 169 Prebble had the ghetto mind and the tunnel-vision of a committed social climber. 1985 Observer 10 Mar. 5/1 Only someone with Tony Benn's tunnel vision could see the strike as ‘a turning point in the battle against monetarism’. |
| 1968 J. Lock Lady Policeman vi. 50 What happened to the juvenile after the Court's decision was not really in our province but we would have been *tunnel-visioned indeed if we had never felt any concern. |
| 1883 Century Mag. Oct. 823/2 A *tunnel-way for passengers connects the whole. |
| 1903 *Tunnel worker [see sand-hog s.v. sand n.2 10 a]. 1911 Daily News 1 Apr. 4 All tunnel-workers in Switzerland being of this nationality [Italian]. |
| 1843 H. Martineau Hill & Valley 36 The *tunnel-workmen were..going to dinner. |
| 1895 Funk's Standard Dict., *Tunnel-worm, an anchylostome. 1906 Scott. Rev. 29 Mar. 338/1 Acute anæmia due to the bite of the so-called tunnel-worm. |
Hence
ˈtunnelism, the theory or practice of tunnelling;
ˈtunnelist, one who constructs a tunnel (in
quot. 1871
transf. a burrowing animal);
ˈtunnellite, one in favour of a proposed submarine tunnel between England and France;
ˈtunnelly a., resembling a tunnel.
| 1799 C. Clarke Obs. Tunnel Thames 23 note, A complete system of Tunnellism. Ibid. 14 The Tunnelist and his Friends. 1871 A. Stewart Nether Lochaber xxiii. (1883) 138 The velvet coated tunnelists live on worms and insect larvae. 1874 M. E. Herbert tr. Hübner's Ramble i. xi. (1878) 169 Having passed through the tunnelly trunk of one of these trees and the interior of the other [Big Trees of Mariposa]. 1882 Sat. Rev. 4 Mar. 261/1 The Tunnellites..can say nothing but that their opponents are panic-mongers. |
Add:
[4.] i. A tunnel-shaped greenhouse or cloche,
usu. made of polythene. Freq.
attrib. and in
Comb. Cf. tunnel house, sense *5 below.
| 1967 Grower 1 July 5/2 (caption) One new idea, bubble tunnels, is being tried on a small scale... Temperatures in the unheated tunnel have ranged from over 100 deg. F. down to 28 deg. F. 1972 Times 29 July 11/6 We have just started to use our first ‘tunnel’ type plastic house. 1974 Country Life 21 Feb. 379/2 Tunnel cloches are arched over the rows. 1986 Farmers Weekly 3 Jan. 16 (caption) The 200ha..down to tunnel-grown strawberries in the region had declined to 60ha. |
[5.] tunnel house, a tunnel-shaped greenhouse;
cf. sense *4 i above.
| 1973 Grower 7 July 18 (Advt.), Before you order a new *tunnel house, or re-cover an existing one, put ‘Duraphane’ under your microscope. 1987 Queensland Country Life 22 Jan. 7/1 (Advt.), Tunnel houses... Designed for side or central aisles. |
▪ II. ˈtunnel, v. [f. prec. n. Cf. F. tonneler to net partridges.] 1. † a. trans. ? To furnish with a tunnel-net, or a tubular passage resembling one.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 169 b, The windowes must be so placed..hauing a hole of sufficient widenesse ouer against them, well netted and tunnelled, in such sort as the Pigions may easely flee out and in at. |
b. To catch (partridges) with a tunnel-net. Also
absol.| 1687 [see tunnelling vbl. n. 1]. 1718 Free-thinker No. 49 ¶8 A Poacher..has writ to a Friend to send him a Dozen of Second-hand Hoops into the Countrey, which by the Addition of a Cabbage-Net, will serve to Tunnel Partridges. 1840 D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports vii. iv. §2623 By tunnelling them [partridges], that is, by taking them in what is called a tunnel net. |
† 2. To pour
in through a funnel.
Obs.| 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 94 You may alter the height of the Mercurial Cylinder, as you do rudely or cautiously tunnel in the Quicksilver into the Tube. |
† 3. a. To form into, or like, a tube or pipe.
Obs.| 1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. iv. xiii. (1727) 232 With what prodigious Subtilty do some foreign Birds..plat and weave the fibrous Parts of Vegetables together, and curiously tunnel them, and commodiously form them into Nests. Ibid. 235 note, These little Houses look coarse, and shew no great Artifice outwardly; but are well tunnelled, and made within with a hard tough Paste. |
† b. (In earlier use.) To line a shaft or pit with tubbing: see
tub v. 2.
Obs. 4. a. intr. To make a tunnel; to excavate a passage under ground, or through some body or substance.
| 1795 [see tunnelling vbl. n. 4]. 1839 J. Sterling Ess., etc. (1848) I. 322 As some great earth-monster, Johnson tunnels under ground, and heaves out rocks and tons of soil. 1887 Century Mag. Dec. 250/1 Then [I] began to tunnel into the huge bank of snow. 1889 Nature 11 Apr. 600/2 This had to be tunnelled through before an inch of progress could be made. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 418 Below, the abscess has..tunnelled along the psoas muscle. |
b. trans. To excavate, as a tunnel; to make (one's way) by boring or excavating. Also
fig.| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxi. 208 The stream, which tunnels its way out near the glacier-foot. 1856–1898 [see tunnelled 3]. 1884 J. Tait Mind in Matter (1892) 114 In tunnelling out a theory of thought-production Mr. Spencer's light grows dim and expires. |
c. To make a tunnel through; to perforate with or as with a tunnel.
| 1865 Ruskin Sesame i. §35 You have tunnelled the cliffs of Lucerne by Tell's chapel. 1910 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 33/2 The cover warped and tunnelled by white ants. 1913 Times 6 Aug. 7/4 A more formidable rival to the plan of tunnelling the Channel is that of instituting a ferry service from Dover to Calais. |
d. intr. Physics. Of a sub-atomic particle: to pass
through a potential barrier by tunnelling (
tunnelling vbl. n. 3).
| 1938 S. Dushman Elem. Quantum Mech. iii. 66 The probability that a particle coming up to the boundary at x= 0 shall ‘tunnel’ through the barrier. 1966 D. G. Brandon Mod. Techniques Metallogr. iv. 181 Electrons may be able to ‘tunnel’ through to the far side. 1978 P. W. Atkins Physical Chem. xiii. 402 An electron is able to tunnel through even quite high potential barriers (for example, they can escape from the powerful forces inside nuclei, and emerge as β-rays). |