Tunnel vs. Shaft — What's the Difference?

A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through the surrounding soil/earth/rock and enclosed except for entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube construction techniques rather than traditional tunnel boring methods.

A column or obelisk.

An artificial underground passage, especially one built through a hill or under a building, road, or river

The long narrow stem or body of a spear or arrow.

Short for wind tunnel

A spear or arrow.

A long, half-cylindrical enclosure used to protect plants, made of clear plastic stretched over hoops

The handle of any of various tools or implements.

Dig or force a passage underground or through something

One of two parallel poles between which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle.

(of a particle) pass through a potential barrier.

A long, generally cylindrical bar that rotates and transmits power, as the drive shaft of an engine.

An underground or underwater passage.

(Zoology) The main axis of a feather, especially its distal portion.

A passage through or under a barrier such as a mountain.

The midsection of a long bone; the diaphysis.

A tube-shaped structure.

The section of a hair projecting from the surface of the body.

To make a tunnel through or under

The body of the clitoris, extending from the root to the glans.

To produce, shape, or dig in the form of a tunnel

The body of the penis, extending from the root to the glans.

To make a tunnel.

The principal portion of a column, between the capital and the base.

An underground or underwater passage.

A ray or beam of light.

A passage through or under some obstacle.

A bolt of lightning.

A hole in the ground made by an animal, a burrow.

A long, narrow, often vertical passage sunk into the earth, as for mining ore; a tunnel.

A wrapper for a protocol that cannot otherwise be used because it is unsupported, blocked, or insecure.

A vertical passage housing an elevator.

A vessel with a broad mouth at one end, a pipe or tube at the other, for conveying liquor, fluids, etc., into casks, bottles, or other vessels; a funnel.

A duct or conduit for the passage of air, as for ventilation or heating.

The opening of a chimney for the passage of smoke; a flue.

The upright portion of a boot that covers the leg.

(mining) A level passage driven across the measures, or at right angles to veins which it is desired to reach; distinguished from the drift, or gangway, which is led along the vein when reached by the tunnel.

A scornful or sarcastic remark; a barb.

(figurative) Anything that resembles a tunnel.

(Slang) Harsh, unfair treatment. Often used with the

(transitive) To make a tunnel through or under something; to burrow.

Vulgar Slang A penis.

(intransitive) To dig a tunnel.

To equip with a shaft.

To transmit something through a tunnel (wrapper for insecure or unsupported protocol).

(Slang) To treat in a harsh, unfair way

To insert a catheter into a vein to allow long-term use.

(Slang) To penetrate (someone) sexually.

(physics) To undergo the quantum-mechanical phenomenon where a particle penetrates through a barrier that it classically cannot surmount.

(obsolete) The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.

A vessel with a broad mouth at one end, and a pipe or tube at the other, for conveying liquor, fluids, etc., into casks, bottles, or other vessels; a funnel.

The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin.

The opening of a chimney for the passage of smoke; a flue; a funnel.

(by extension) Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin.

An artificial passage or archway for conducting canals, roads, or railroads under elevated ground, for the formation of roads under rivers or canals, and the construction of sewers, drains, and the like.

Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool, one of the poles between which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle, the driveshaft of a motorized vehicle with rear-wheel drive, an axle, etc.

A level passage driven across the measures, or at right angles to veins which it is desired to reach; - distinguished from the drift, or gangway, which is led along the vein when reached by the tunnel.

A beam or ray of light.

To form into a tunnel, or funnel, or to form like a tunnel; as, to tunnel fibrous plants into nests.

The main axis of a feather.

To catch in a tunnel net.

(lacrosse) The long narrow body of a lacrosse stick.

To make an opening, or a passageway, through or under; as, to tunnel a mountain; to tunnel a river.

A vertical or inclined passage sunk into the earth as part of a mine

To make a tunnel; as, to tunnel under a river.

A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator; a liftshaft.

A passageway through or under something, usually underground (especially one for trains or cars);

A ventilation or heating conduit; an air duct.

A hole in the ground made by an animal for shelter

(architecture) Any column or pillar, particularly the body of a column between its capital and pedestal.

Move through by or as by digging;

The main cylindrical part of the penis.

Force a way through

The chamber of a blast furnace.

(weather) A relatively small area of precipitation that an onlook can discern from the dry surrounding area.

To fuck over; to cause harm to, especially through deceit or treachery.

(transitive) To equip with a shaft.

To fuck; to have sexual intercourse with.

The slender, smooth stem of an arrow; hence, an arrow.

The long handle of a spear or similar weapon; hence, the weapon itself; (Fig.) anything regarded as a shaft to be thrown or darted; as, shafts of light.

That which resembles in some degree the stem or handle of an arrow or a spear; a long, slender part, especially when cylindrical.

The handle or helve of certain tools, instruments, etc., as a hammer, a whip, etc.

A humming bird (Thaumastura cora) having two of the tail feathers next to the middle ones very long in the male; - called also cora humming bird.

A rod at the end of a heddle.

A well-like excavation in the earth, perpendicular or nearly so, made for reaching and raising ore, for raising water, etc.

A long passage for the admission or outlet of air; an air shaft.

The chamber of a blast furnace.

A line that forms the length of an arrow pointer

An aggressive remark directed at a person like a missile and intended to have a telling effect;

A long rod or pole (especially the handle of an implement or the body of a weapon like a spear or arrow)

A column of light (as from a beacon)

The main (mid) section of a long bone

Obscene terms for penis

A long pointed rod used as a weapon

A vertical passageway through a building (as for an elevator)

(architecture) upright consisting of the vertical part of a column

A vertical passage into a mine

A revolving rod that transmits power or motion

The hollow shaft of a feather

Equip with a shaft

Defeat someone in an expectation through trickery or deceit