[A recent word of obscure origin.
It has been conjectured to be a corruption of F. couloir, in Cotgr. also coulouēre, ‘a channel, gutter, or any such hollow, along which melted things are to run,’ f. couler to flow. But points of connection between the Fr. and Eng. words, in form and sense, are wanting. On the other hand some think ‘culvert’ an Eng. dialect word, taken into technical use at the epoch of canal-making. No connection with covert has been traced.]
A channel, conduit, or tunneled drain of masonry or brick-work conveying a stream of water across beneath a canal, railway embankment, or road; also applied to an arched or barrel-shaped drain or sewer.
Used from c. 1770 in connection with canal construction; thence extended to railways, highways, town-drainage, etc. In connection with railways and highways, it is sometimes disputed whether a particular structure is a ‘culvert’ or a ‘bridge.’ The essential purpose of a bridge, however, is to carry a road at a desired height over a river and its channel, a chasm, or the like; that of a culvert to afford a passage for a small crossing stream under the embankment of a railway or highway, or beneath a road where the configuration of the surface does not require a bridge. Locally, the term ‘culvert’ is often limited to a barrel drain, bricks shaped for which are known as culvert-bricks. See Notes & Queries, 8th Ser. III. 248, 377.
1773. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 97. 40 locks, 114 cart-bridges, 9 foot-bridges, and 120 culverts or aqueducts, including those magnificent ones over the rivers Dove and Trent.
1785. Dudley & Birm. Canal Act (25 Geo. III., c. 87 § 6). The said Company … shall … make and support good and sufficient Culverts and Aqueducts to convey the same [streams] … in the several and respective courses in which they have hitherto run.
1788. Deritend Bridge Act (28 Geo. III., c. 70 § 7). To cause a Culvert to be made of the diameter of six feet at the least.
1801. Croydon Canal Act (41 Geo. III., c. 127 § 95).
1804. Rees, Cycl., s.v. Canal, The construction of culverts or drains under a canal, for conveying away water from the upper to the lower side of a canal.
1837. Whishaw, Anal. Railways, 271. Culvert, a large drain either of brick or stone used in railways for passing brooks and streams under the embankments. Ibid. (1840), Railways Gt. Brit., 426. The largest culvert carries the Claxton brook under the embankment.
b. Applied to an underground channel in which electric cables or mains are laid; also called a conduit.
1889. Daily News, 12 Oct., 6/1. Mr. Crompton’s culverts are simply narrow and shallow tunnels lined with brick work. The St. James’s Company’s cast-iron troughs may be fairly described as portable culverts. They are … an impregnable protection for the copper cables inside them.
1893. Electr. Engineer, 12 May vii. Systems of copper strip laid in culverts.
Hence Culvert v., to provide or lay with culverts.
1889. Daily News, 12 Oct., 6/1. The culverting of Clubland [for electric lighting] has been an exceptionally difficult operation.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, I. 121. The streets were aligned, metalled, and culverted.
