culvert

Meanings

Noun

• A transverse channel under a road or railway for the draining of water.

Verb

• To channel (a stream of water) through a culvert.

Origin

• Origin obscure, with a number of possible etymologies suggested.
• a dialectal word,
• a word related to the name of the now-forgotten inventor,
• a derivation from French couvert ("covered"), although couvert is not used in this sense and the French translation of culvert is ponceau or buse de drainage,
• a derivation from an unrecorded Dutch word, possibly *coul-vaart, a combination of coul-, from French couler ("to flow"), and Dutch vaart ("a trip by boat, a canal").