tunnelling

Variant of tunnel

tunnel definition

tun·nel (tunəl)

noun

  1. Obsolete
    1. a flue
    2. a funnel
  2. a passageway, as through a mountain or under a body of water, as for automotive or rail traffic
  3. an animal's burrow
  4. any tunnel-like passage, as one in a mine

Etymology: ME tonel, a net with wide opening and narrow end < MFr tonnelle, arbor, semicircular vault < OFr tonnel, dim. of tonne, tun

transitive verb tunneled -·neled or tunnelled -·nelled, tunneling -·nel·ing or tunnelling -·nel·ling

  1. to dig (a passage) in the form of a tunnel
  2. to make a tunnel through or under
  3. to make (one's way) by digging a tunnel

intransitive verb

  1. to make a tunnel
  2. Physics to pass through a normally impassable barrier or insulator electrons tunnel through semiconductors

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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