different between drifts vs culvert

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??fts/

Noun

drifts

1. plural of drift

Verb

drifts

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of drift

Swedish

Noun

drifts

1. indefinite genitive singular of drift

English

Etymology

Origin obscure. A number of possible etymologies have been suggested including

1. a dialectal word,
2. a word related to the name of the now-forgotten inventor,
3. a derivation from French couvert (“covered”), although couvert is not used in this sense and the French translation of culvert is ponceau or buse de drainage,
4. a derivation from an unrecorded Dutch word, possibly *coul-vaart, a combination of Dutch coul-, from French couler (“to flow”), and Dutch vaart (“a trip by boat, a canal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?lv?(?)t/

Noun

culvert (plural culverts)

1. A transverse channel under a road or railway for the draining of water.
   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room, Vintage Classics, paperback edition, page 91

     A raft of twigs stayed upon a stone, suddenly detached itself, and floated towards the culvert.

   • 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, Virago Press, paperback edition, page 167

     After she left, I ran away for a day, and hid myself, solitary, in a culvert under the railway lines.

Derived terms

• Thorpe Culvert

Translations

Verb

culvert (third-person singular simple present culverts, present participle culverting, simple past and past participle culverted)

1. To channel (a stream of water) through a culvert.

References

Middle English

Alternative forms

• colwarde, culvard, culvart, kilvarde

Etymology

From Old French colvert, from Late Latin coll?bertus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kulv?rt/, /?kulward/

Adjective

culvert

1. vile, nefarious

References

• “culvert, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.