- The definition of culvert is a tunnel or a drain under a road or a railway that carries a stream or drainage from one side to the other.
A tunnel under the Reading Railroad that a stream flows through is an example of a culvert.
- Culvert is defined as to channel or direct a stream or drainage through a tunnel under a road or railway.
When you build an enclosed tunnel under Reading Railroad to force a stream to pass underneath the railroad, this is an example of when you culvert the stream.
Origin of culvertlate 18th-c. ; from uncertain or unknown; perhaps
- A sewer or drain crossing under a road or embankment.
- a. The part of a road or embankment that passes over such a sewer or drain.b. The channel or conduit for such a sewer or drain.
Origin of culvertOrigin unknown.
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.