From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtunneltun‧nel1 /ˈtʌnl/ ●●● W3 noun [countable] 1 TTa passage that has been dug under the ground for cars, trains etc to go through a railway tunnel the Channel Tunnel (=between England and France)2 HBAHOLEa passage under the ground that animals have dug to live inCOLLOCATIONSADJECTIVES/NOUN + tunnel a two-mile/1500-foot-long etc tunnelA 250-metre-long tunnel provides access to all parts of the development.a dark tunnelHe peered uneasily down the dark tunnel at the end of the platform.a narrow tunnelShe ran down the narrow tunnel leading to the exit.an underground tunnelThe prisoners escaped through an underground tunnel.a rail/railway tunnelthe 15km long Gotthard railway tunnel a road tunnela road tunnel through the mountainsthe Channel Tunnel (=the tunnel under the sea between England and France)They went by train via the Channel Tunnel.phrasesthe roof of a tunnelThe roof of the tunnel was a foot above his head.the entrance to a tunnel/tunnel entranceTo the right was the entrance to a second tunnel.verbsdig a tunnelBurglars had dug a tunnel under the building in an attempted raid.build a tunnelThe contractors will start building the tunnel next month.a tunnel leads somewhereThe Greenwich Foot Tunnel leads under the River Thames.
Examples from the Corpus
tunnel• Over the next few hours, faces and figures passed like the tableaux of a funhouse tunnel.• Irrigation tunnels of water ran beside the beds and not far from small thatched-roof houses.• Police feared that du Pont might try to flee through a series of tunnels beneath the house.• He was emerging from the tunnel.• A rock dam was erected to keep bat fans out of the tunnel.• The construction works on the tunnel would disrupt one of the colony's main breeding grounds.• Napoleon is believed to have been warmly in favour even though the tunnel was not designed for military purposes.• About eighteen people escaped from this tunnel and they were not all recaptured until four days later.tunneltunnel2 verb (tunnelled, tunnelling British English, tunneled, tunneling American English) [intransitive always + adverb/preposition, transitive] 1 TEDIGto dig a long passage under the groundtunnel into/through/under They were tunnelling into the mountainside.tunnel your way under/through etc The prisoners tunneled their way under the fence.2 if insects tunnel into something, they make holes in ittunnel into The grubs tunnel into the wood.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
tunnel• Special drilling equipment is being used to tunnel beneath the sea bed.• They had tunnelled down into the plateau, and they had built upwards as far as their materials and construction abilities would allow.• Trent rode in first gear, headlight tunnelling into the forest gloom through which the rain bucketed.• They may watch the sand shifting as they tunnel their hands into it.• After days of digging, the prisoners finally tunnelled their way out of the camp and escaped.• worms tunnelling through the mud• It snows throughout the winter in Jozankei, and it gets so deep, the people tunnel under the immovable drifts.tunnel into/through/under• Three months later, investigators discovered the start of another tunnel under a trailer used for psychological treatment.• In the film Batman Returns a horde of large black bats swarmed through flooded tunnels into downtown Gotham.• Trespass can therefore be committed by a person who digs a tunnel under land or who abuses the airspace.• A cave brings this psychic tunnel into physical reality.• A stationary engine was used for the final haul up the tunnel into St Leonards Goods Yard.• Deeper and deeper he dug, following the tunnel into the bank.• It snows throughout the winter in Jozankei, and it gets so deep, the people tunnel under the immovable drifts.• Since January 1917, engineers had been employed, quietly but persistently, in tunnelling into the ridge.Origin tunnel1 (1400-1500) Old French tonel “barrel”, from tonne, from Medieval Latin tunna 