cul-de-sacn.
/ˈkʌldəsak/, /ˈkʊldəsak/, /ˌkʌldəˈsak/, /ˌkʊldəˈsak/, U.S. /ˈkəldəˌsæk/, /ˈkʊldəˌsæk/, /ˌkəldəˈsæk/, /ˌkʊldəˈsæk/ 1. Anatomy. A vessel, tube, sac, etc. open only at one end, as the cæcum or ‘blind gut’; the closed extremity of such a vessel, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > shape > [noun] > tube or canal > with one end closed
cul-de-sac1738
caecum1753
1738 Med. Ess. & Observ. (ed. 2) IV. 92 An Infundibuliform Cul de Sac or Thimble-like cavity.
1809 Brodie in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 99 163 The œsophagus..terminated in a cul-de-sac.
1841 T. R. Jones Gen. Outl. Animal Kingdom xxx. 723 In many Ruminants,..a cul-de-sac occupies the commencement of the vascular bulb of the urethra.
2. A street, lane, or passage closed at one end, a blind alley; a place having no outlet except by the entrance; in Military use, said of the position of an army hemmed in on all sides except behind. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > cul-de-sac > [noun]
blind lanec1386
turn-again lane1531
blind alley1582
close1723
turn-again alley1754
loke1787
cul-de-sac1800
no-thoroughfare1809
dead-ender1870
impasse1882
blind lead1885
no through road1933
1800 A. Paget Let. 10 May in Paget Papers (1896) I. 201 This [i.e. Palermo] is such a cul de sac that it would (be) ridiculous to attempt sending you any news.
1809 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1837) IV. 518 The bridges..being irreparable, they would be in a cul de sac.
1828 W. Scott Jrnl. 19 Apr. (1941) 228 Coming home, an Irish coachman drove us into a cul de sac, near Battersea Bridge.
1872 S. W. Baker Nile Tributaries Abyssinia (new ed.) ix. 143 The herds of game found themselves driven into a cul-de-sac.
1885 A. Dobson At Sign of Lyre 30 You tried the cul-de-sac of Thought; The montagne Russe of Pleasure.
1955 Sci. Amer. July 96/1 It has enlisted great talent in what appears to be the ‘most hopeless cul-de-sac in the novel's history’.
1955 Times 23 July 6/3 The Constitution would then be a sham and a cul de sac, not a bridge to self-government later.
1968 Listener 25 July 105/1 My concentration then upon something which was past, something that could never be recovered, was a sort of cul-de-sac.
3. figurative. ‘An inconclusive argument.’ (In some modern dictionaries.)
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1738