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Chunnel. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
Chunnel, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
Chunnel in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
Chunnel you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Blend of Channel (“the English Channel”) + tunnel; the term had been coined by 1960 (see quotation).
Pronunciation
Proper noun
the Chunnel
- (rail transport, informal) Short for Channel Tunnel.
1960 March, “Talking of Trains: London-Paris in four hours”, in Trains Illustrated, page 134:Sir Brian Robertson, Chairman of the B.T.C., told a London audience in January that he would not be surprised if a Channel tunnel for rail traffic, equipped with special wagons to carry road vehicles, were recommended by the study group which has been re-assessing the feasibility of the "Chunnel".
1969, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 30, in Ada, or, Ardor: A Family Chronicle, Harmondsworth, London: Penguin Books, published 1970, →ISBN, part 1, page 144:Rumors, carefully and cleverly circulated by Mascodagama’s friends, diverted speculations toward his being a mysterious visitor from beyond the Golden Curtain, particularly since at least half-a-dozen members of a large Good-will Circus Company that had come from Tartary just then […] had already defected between France and England, somewhere in the newly constructed ‘Chunnel.’
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