[f. prec. sb. Cf. F. tonneler to net partridges.]
1. † a. trans. ? To furnish with a tunnel-net, or a tubular passage resembling one. Obs. rare–1.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 169 b. The windowes must be so placed … hauing a hole of sufficient widenesse ouer against them, well netted and tunnelled, in such sort as the Pigions may easely flee out and in at.
b. To catch (partridges) with a tunnel-net. Also absol.
1687. [see TUNNELLING vbl. sb. 1].
1718. Free-thinker, No. 49, ¶ 8. A Poacher … has writ to a Friend to send him a Dozen of Second-hand Hoops into the Countrey, which by the Addition of a Cabbage-Net, will serve to Tunnel Partridges.
1840. Blaine, Encycl. Rur. Sports, VII. iv. § 2623. By tunnelling them [partridges], that is, by taking them in what is called a tunnel net.
† 2. To pour in through a funnel. Obs.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 94. You may alter the height of the Mercurial Cylinder, as you do rudely or cautiously tunnel in the Quicksilver into the Tube.
† 3. To form into, or like, a tube or pipe. Obs.
1713. Derham, Phys.-Theol., IV. xiii. (1727), 232. With what prodigious Subtilty do some foreign Birds … plat and weave the fibrous Parts of Vegetables together, and curiously tunnel them, and commodiously form them into Nests. Ibid., 235, note. These little Houses look coarse, and shew no great Artifice outwardly; but are well tunnelled, and made within with a hard tough Paste.
† b. (In earlier use.) To line a shaft or pit with tubbing: see TUB v. 2. Obs.
1686. [see TUNNELLING 2 b].
4. intr. To make a tunnel; to excavate a passage under ground, or through some body or substance.
1795. [see TUNNELLING vbl. sb. 3].
1839. J. Sterling, Ess., etc. (1848), I. 322. As some great earth-monster, Johnson tunnels under ground, and heaves out rocks and tons of soil.
1887. Century Mag., Dec., 250/1. Then [I] began to tunnel into the huge bank of snow.
1889. Nature, 11 April, 600/2. This had to be tunnelled through before an inch of progress could be made.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 418. Below, the abscess has … tunnelled along the psoas muscle.
b. trans. To excavate, as a tunnel; to make (one’s way) by boring or excavating. Also fig.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. xxi. 208. The stream, which tunnels its way out near the glacier-foot.
1856–1898. [see TUNNELLED 3].
1884. J. Tait, Mind in Matter (1892), 114. In tunnelling out a theory of thought-production Mr. Spencer’s light grows dim and expires.
c. To make a tunnel through; to perforate with or as with a tunnel.
1865. Ruskin, Sesame, i. § 35. You have tunnelled the cliffs of Lucerne by Tell’s chapel.
1910. Blackw. Mag., Jan., 33/2. The cover warped and tunnelled by white ants.
1913. Times, 6 Aug., 7/4. A more formidable rival to the plan of tunnelling the Channel is that of instituting a ferry service from Dover to Calais.
