cul-de-sac (kŭl'dĭ-săk', kʊl'-)
n., pl., culs-de-sac (kŭlz'-, kʊlz'-), or cul-de-sacs (kŭl'-).

1. 1. A dead-end street.
   2. 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).]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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