[f. L. via way, after AQUEDUCT. So F. viaduc.] An elevated structure, consisting of a series of arches or spans, by means of which a railway or road is carried over a valley, road, river or marshy low-lying ground.
1816. Repton, Fragm. Landscape Gard., 161. I have ventured to suggest a hint for such a structure as may support the road…, rather calling it a Via-duct than a Bridge.
1837. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 57. Great Viaduct now erecting over the River Wear, near Sunderland. This viaduct consists of four large and six small arches.
1869. Times, 15 Oct., 7/5. New bridges and viaducts and new streets can do much in enabling Londoners to pass more quickly to their places of business.
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1875), III. xii. 240. The modern viaduct, a work worthy of old Roman days.
attrib. 1831. T. Grahame, Lett. N. Wood, 23. The Sankey viaduct bridge … consists of nine arches of fifty feet span.
1897. Daily News, 11 Feb., 6/4. The viaduct ganger, who would be responsible for the erection of timbers.
