funnel

«funnel» in Mova's school dictionary: a tube that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a funnel, funnels); verb (funnel, funnels, funnelled/funneled, funnelling/funneling)

meaning for a pupil

1) A funnel is a tube that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used to pour liquids or powders into a small opening. tree →

2) A funnel is also a chimney on a ship or steam train. tree →

3) A funnel cloud is the spinning, cone-shaped cloud of a tornado. tree →

4) To funnel means to move things or people through a narrow space. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and cooking a funnel helps pour without spilling, e.g. when separating mixtures with filter paper. In weather, a funnel cloud is a sign of a tornado. Phrases: «funnel cloud», «pour through a funnel», «filter funnel».

examples

• Use a funnel to pour the water into the bottle. tree →
• We put filter paper in the funnel to separate sand from water. tree →
• The ship had three red funnels. tree →
• A funnel cloud came down from the storm. tree →
• The crowd was funnelled through one gate. tree →
• Mum used a funnel to fill the salt shaker. tree →
• The steam train puffed smoke from its funnel. tree →
• And hop! hop! without hesitating, the rats took the leap, swam straight to the funnel, plunged in head foremost and disappeared. tree →

note

Countable. UK doubles l (funnelled); US often one l (funneled). A tornado funnel cloud is dangerous: go indoors to the lowest floor away from windows.

In the corpora

• A squid moves fast by jet propulsion: it squirts water out through a funnel called a siphon and shoots the other way.
• Not all spiders build round webs: some build funnels, sheets or tangles, and some build none at all.
• In Australia, a firm pressure bandage and keeping the limb still is the first aid for snake and funnel-web spider bites.
• In Australia, redback and funnel-web spiders hide in shoes and under outdoor toilet seats, so shake shoes and check seats.
• In Australia, shake out shoes and check outdoor toilet seats, because redback and funnel-web spiders hide there.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «funnel» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.