Culvert
WordNet
noun
(1) A transverse and totally enclosed drain under a road or railway
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Obscure, possibly dialect or related to the name of the long-forgotten inventor, or possibly from French couvert ("covered"), although couvert cannot be used in the same way, and the introduction of an l to make the English word is difficult to explain.
Noun
Quotations
- 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room, Vintage Classics, paperback edition, page 91
- A raft of twigs stayed upon a stone, suddenly detached itself, and floated towards the culvert.
- 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, Virago Press, paperback edition, page 167
- After she left, I ran away for a day, and hid myself, solitary, in a culvert under the railway lines.