Pl. culs-de-sac. [F. = sack-bottom, bag-bottom.]
1. Anat. A vessel, tube, sac, etc., open only at one end, as the cæcum or ‘blind gut’; the closed extremity of such a vessel, etc.
1738. Med. Ess. & Observ. (ed. 2), IV. 92. An Infundibuliform Cul de Sac or Thimble-like cavity.
1809. Brodie, in Phil. Trans., XCIX. 163. The œsophagus … terminated in a cul-de-sac.
1841–71. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 878. In many Ruminants … a cul de sac occupies the commencement of the vascular bulb of the urethra.
2. A street, lane, or passage closed at one end, a blind alley; a place having no outlet except by the entrance; in Milit. use, said of the position of an army hemmed in on all sides except behind.
1819. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp., IV. 518. The bridges … being irreparable, they would be in a cul de sac.
1828. Scott, Jrnl. (1890), II. 163. Coming home, an Irish coachman drove us into a cul de sac, near Battersea Bridge.
1872. Baker, Nile Tribut., ix. 143. The herds of game … found themselves driven into a cul-de-sac.
3. fig. ‘An inconclusive argument.’
In some mod. Dicts.
