[f. TUNNEL v. + -ER1.]
1. One who catches birds with a tunnel-net. ? Obs.
1611. Cotgr., Tonnelleur, a Tunneller; a Taker of Partridges with a tunnell.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tunnel..., a sort of Net to catch Partridges. Tunneller, one that goes a Fowling with such a Net.
2. One who excavates a tunnel; transf. a burrowing animal.
1860. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Instit., 1859, 213. Our little tunneler [Gastrochæna, a bivalve mollusk] sets to work with all the ardor of youth.
1873. Proctor, Light Sc., 153. Tunnellers from one end have sometimes … failed to meet those from the other.
