the fugitive made use of local runnels to throw the bloodhounds off his scent
Recent Examples on the WebDesigned by Louis Kahn for Jonas Salk, who created the polio vaccine, the complex sits on a shelf above the Pacific, a symmetrical white piazza flanked by buildings that are angled like a theater’s wings and bisected by a narrow runnel. Justin Davidson, Curbed, 15 Mar. 2021 The road ran like a twisty runnel through fuchsia hedges and bright fields of buttercups and cow parsley, up to a pass among the 3,000-foot Slieve Mish mountains.New York Times, 12 Aug. 2019 In summer, runoff from cloudbursts etches into the softer limestones and sluices through the deep runnels.National Geographic, 19 Aug. 2019 Grouting crews fan out across the subways every night, looking for runnels down walls and stalactites of muck oozing from ceilings, patching up incursions that are closest to electrical components first. Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2018
Word History
Etymology
alteration of Middle English rinel, from Old English rynel; akin to Old English rinnan to run — more at run
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of runnel was before the 12th century