cul-de-sac
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cul-de-sac
(kŭl′dĭ-săk′, ko͝ol′-)n. pl. cul-de-sacs or culs-de-sac (kŭlz′-, ko͝olz′-)
1.
a. A dead-end street, especially one ending in a circular turnaround.
b. A circular turnaround at the end of a dead-end street.
c. An impasse: "This was the cul-de-sac the year kept driving me toward: men and women would always be at odds" (Philip Weiss).
2. Anatomy A saclike cavity or tube open only at one end.
[French : cul, bottom (from Old French, from Latin cūlus; see culet) + de, of (from Old French, from Latin dē; see de-) + sac, sack (from Old French, from Latin saccus; see sack1).]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
cul-de-sac
(ˈkʌldəˌsæk; ˈkʊl-)n, pl culs-de-sac or cul-de-sacs
1. (Human Geography) a road with one end blocked off; dead end
2. an inescapable position
3. (Anatomy) any tube-shaped bodily cavity or pouch closed at one end, such as the caecum
[C18: from French, literally: bottom of the bag]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
cul-de-sac
(ˈkʌl dəˈsæk, -ˌsæk, ˈkʊl-)n., pl. culs-de-sac.
1. a blind alley; dead-end street.
2. any situation in which further progress is impossible.
3. a saclike anatomical cavity or tube open at only one end, as the cecum.
[1730–40; < French: literally, bottom of the sack]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
cul-de-sac
- Literally French for "bottom of a sack," it also means "situation from which there is no escape"; it can be pluralized as cul-de-sacs or culs-de-sac.See also related terms for sack.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.
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cul-de-sac
noun dead end, blind alley The factory was set at the end of a cul-de-sac.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
cul-de-sac
nounA course leading nowhere:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
cul-de-sac
[ˈkʌldəˈsæk] (culs-de-sac, cul-de-sacs (pl)) N (lit) → calle f sin salida, calle f cortada (fig) → callejón m sin salidaCollins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
cul-de-sac
n → Sackgasse f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
cul-de-sac
(ˈkaldəsӕk) noun a street closed at one end.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.