cut-and-cover

English

Adjective

cut-and-cover (not comparable)

1. (construction) A method of building tunnels just below the surface by excavating a large trench, constructing the tunnel and then covering it with soil.
   • 1950 August, “Paris Metropolitan Railway Jubilee”, in Railway Magazine, page 505:

     The greater part of the railway was built on the cut-and-cover principle, but some sections were tunnelled with a head shield.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page unnumbered: A note on the title:

     On London Underground, there are the cut-and-cover lines running just below the surface, and the Tubes properly so-called, which are on average about 40 feet down.

Alternative forms

• cut and cover (noun)

References

• “cut-and-cover”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.