the Grand Canal

   A proposed ship canal from the Rhine to the Rhone, via the valley of the river Doubs. The project caused bitter opposition from ecologists and environmentalists, and was finally shelved in 1995. Despite this, some conservative politicians and business interests along the projected route of the canal still hope to see the project go through.

canal (plural - aux) [kanal, o]

1. masculine noun

   a. (artificiel) canal ; ( = détroit) channel

• le canal de Panama/Suez the Panama/Suez Canal

   b. (TV) channel

   c. ( = intermédiaire) par le canal d'un collègue through a colleague

2. compounds

► canal lacrymal tear duct

► Canal Plus, Canal + French pay TV channel

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pl - aux kanal, o nom masculin

1) ( voie navigable) canal

2) ( moyen) channel

3) Anatomie ( tube) duct

4) Télécommunications ( fréquence) channel

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canaux pl nm

1) (pour la navigation) canal, (naturel) channel

2) TV, RADIO channel

3) ANATOMIE canal

4) ADMINISTRATION

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canal, pl - aux nm

1 ( voie navigable) canal; le Grand Canal the Grand Canal; le canal de Suez the Suez canal; au bord du canal by the canal;

2 ( moyen) channel; le canal administratif/diplomatique the administrative/diplomatic channel; annoncer/apprendre qch par le canal de la télévision to announce/to hear sth on television;

3 Anat ( tube) duct; un canal obstrué a blocked duct;

4 Géog ( bras de mer) channel;

5 Télécom ( fréquence) channel.

canal adducteur water supply channel; canal d'amenée headrace channel; canal biliaire bile duct; canal déférent vas deferens; canal de dérivation bypass channel; canal de diffusion or de distribution distribution channel; canal de drainage drop pipe; canal d'irrigation irrigation channel; canal médullaire medullary canal; canaux semi-circulaires semicircular canals.

( pluriel canaux) [kanal, o] nom masculin

1. NAUTIQUE canal

2. TRAVAUX PUBLICS duct, channel

3. AGRICULTURE canal

4. AUDIO & INFORMATIQUE channel

(Québec) [chaîne] (TV) channel

5. ANATOMIE & BOTANIQUE duct, canal

6. ÉCONOMIE

7. ARCHITECTURE flute

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par le canal de locution prépositionnelle

Canal + is a private television channel. It broadcasts programmes that have to be unscrambled using a special decoding unit which is supplied to subscribers. Some of its programmes can be seen without this device.

1 imponente; grandioso; splendido; grande: a grand palace, un palazzo imponente; a grand spectacle, uno spettacolo grandioso; grand ladies, dame importanti; gran dame; in grand style, in grande stile

2 (il) più importante; principale: the grand staircase of a building, la scala principale d'un edificio; lo scalone d'onore; grand entrance, ingresso principale

3 grande; grandioso; ambizioso: a grand gesture, un gesto grandioso; un gran gesto; a grand plan, un progetto ambizioso; to have grand ideas, avere idee grandiose

4 (rag., stat.) complessivo; generale: grand total, totale generale

5 ( nei nomi di luoghi o edifici) grande: the Grand Canal, il Canal grande (a Venezia); the Grand Canyon, il Gran Canyon; Grand Hotel, Grand Hotel

6 (fam.) eccellente; magnifico; meraviglioso; splendido: a grand idea, un'ottima idea; a grand party, una festa meravigliosa; grand weather, tempo magnifico; to have a grand time, divertirsi un mondo; spassarsela

● (in GB) grand committee, commissione permanente della Camera dei Comuni □ grand-ducal, granducale □ grand duchess, granduchessa □ grand duchy, granducato □ grand duke, granduca □ ( sport) grand final, finalissima □ (leg.) grand holidays, ferie giudiziarie □ (stor.) the Grand Inquisitor, il Grande inquisitore □ (leg., USA) grand jury, gran giurì, giuria speciale ( che decide se qualcuno debba essere rinviato a giudizio) □ (leg. USA) grand larceny, furto grave □ grand master, campione di scacchi; maestro degli scacchi □ Grand Master, Gran Maestro ( d'un ordine cavalleresco o della massoneria) □ (ipp.) Grand National, «Grand National» NOTE DI CULTURA: Grand National: è la più famosa corsa siepi della Gran Bretagna e si tiene annualmente in primavera nel circuito di Aintree, presso Liverpool. Fu istituita nel 1839 e ricevette questo nome nel 1847. Il circuito è celebre per la sua difficoltà, tanto che agli ostacoli più pericolosi è stato addirittura attribuito un nome in ricordo dei cavalli caduti durante la prima edizione: Becher's Brook ( fossato di Becher) e Valentine's Brook ( fossato di Valentine) □ the Grand Old Man of, il Grande Vecchio di ( un'attività, una disciplina, ecc.) □ (polit., USA) the Grand Old Party, il Partito Repubblicano □ (mus.) grand opera, opera lirica □ (mus.) grand orchestra, grande orchestra □ grand piano, pianoforte a coda □ ( sport e bridge) grand slam, grande slam □ grand tour, (stor.) viaggio in Europa ( fatto dai nobili inglesi nell'Ottocento); (scherz.) visita completa, giro completo □ (stor.) Grand Vizier, Gran Visir NOTA D'USO: - big, grand, great o large?-.

1 (fam.) pianoforte a coda

2 ( slang ingl.; inv. al pl.) mille sterline; ( slang USA; inv. al pl.) (biglietto da) mille dollari: fifty grand, cinquantamila dollari

● (mus.) upright grand, grande piano verticale.

grand [grænd]

1 adjective

(a) (impressive → house) magnifique; (→ style) grand, noble; (→ music, occasion) grand; (pretentious, self-important) suffisant, prétentieux; (dignified, majestic) majestueux, digne;

∎ to do sth in grand style faire qch en grande pompe;

∎ to live in grand style mener la grande vie;

∎ she likes to do things on a grand scale elle aime faire les choses en grand;

∎ to entertain on a grand scale recevoir des gens en grande pompe;

∎ to invest on a grand scale faire de gros investissements;

∎ to build on a grand scale réaliser de grands projets de construction;

∎ that dress is a bit too grand for me cette robe est un peu trop chic pour moi;

∎ it was all part of his grand design tout cela faisait partie de son grand projet;

∎ lexicographer is just a grand name for someone who writes dictionaries lexicographe est simplement un mot pompeux pour désigner une personne qui écrit des dictionnaires

(b) British old-fashioned or Irish, North of England & Scottish familiar (excellent → food, accommodation) excellent; (→ weather) magnifique;

∎ I'm not feeling too grand je ne suis pas dans mon assiette;

∎ she sounded absolutely grand when I spoke to her on the phone elle avait l'air en pleine forme quand je l'ai eue au téléphone;

∎ to have a grand time bien s'amuser;

∎ ironic we had a grand old time trying to find the house! on s'est marré pour trouver la maison!

2 noun

(a) familiar (money) British mille livres^□ fpl; American mille dollars mpl;

∎ two grand British deux mille livres; American deux mille dollars

(b) Music piano m à queue

3 exclamation

Irish, North of England & Scottish familiar impec!, très bien!^□

►► Grand Canary (Island) Grande Canarie f;

∎ in Grand Canary à la Grande Canarie;

the Grand Canyon le Grand Canyon;

the Grand Canyon State = surnom donné à l'Arizona;

grand duchess grande-duchesse f;

grand duchy grand-duché m;

grand duke grand-duc m;

grand finale apothéose f;

American grand jury jury m d'accusation;

American grand larceny vol m qualifié;

Grand Master (in chess) grand maître m; (of masonic lodge) Grand Maître m;

the Grand National = la plus importante course d'obstacles de Grande-Bretagne, qui se déroule à Aintree, dans la banlieue de Liverpool;

the Grand Old Man = surnom de William Gladstone;

∎ the grand old man of trade unionism/Scottish folk music le patriarche du syndicalisme/de la musique folklorique écossaise;

American Politics the Grand Old Party le parti républicain;

grand opera grand opéra m;

grand piano piano m à queue;

Sport & Cards grand slam grand chelem m;

Grand Slam tournament tournoi m du grand chelem;

grand total total m;

∎ that comes to a grand total of £536 ça fait en tout 536 livres;

the Grand Tour le tour d'Europe;

grand tour (of mansion etc) visite f;

∎ humorous would you like a grand tour of the house? je te fais faire le tour du propriétaire?;

∎ she did or went on a grand tour of Italy elle a visité toute l'Italie;

Physics the Grand Unified Theory la théorie de grande unification;

the Grand Union Canal = canal reliant Londres aux Midlands;

History grand vizier grand vizir m;

grand wizard Grand Sorcier m

Gli aggettivi big e large si usano entrambi con il significato di “grande” con riferimento alle dimensioni. Big è più comune nel parlato: He is big for his age, è grande per la sua età. Large è più formale: a large government grant, una grande sovvenzione statale. Great si usa, invece, per indicare qualcosa di imponente, importante, meraviglioso o famoso: a great writer, un grande scrittore. Per indicare qualcosa di grandioso e imponente, oltre a great, si usa grand ( a grand staircase, un grandioso scalone), che si trova anche in alcuni toponimi ( the Grand Canal, il Canal grande), ma che in genere non ha il significato di “famoso e importante”; per esempio, “un grande scrittore” non si traduce con a grand writer.

Large o great si usano per le quantità: large (o great) quantities of copper, grandi quantità di rame; a large (o great) sum of money, una grande quantità di denaro. Great viene usato anche in riferimento a sentimenti: in great pain, molto addolorato; I have great respect for your views, ho un grande rispetto per le tue opinioni. In queste ultime frasi usare large al posto di great sarebbe sbagliato.

il Canal Grande

the Grand Canal

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→  canale

m channel

artificiale canal

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canale s.m.

1 canal; ( di mare) channel; ( di marea) tideway; ( costiero) gat: canale navigabile, shipway (o ship-canal) // il canale di San Lorenzo, the St. Laurence Seaway // il canale di Suez, the Suez Canal // il canale della Manica, the Channel

2 ( condotto) pipe, tube: canale di gronda, gutter; canale di scolo, drain; canale di scolo per fognatura, sewer

3 (anat., bot.) canal, duct, passage: canale biliare, biliary duct

4 (estens.) channel; means (pl.): le notizie giungevano attraverso diversi canali, the news arrived via various channels; canale commerciale, channel of trade; canale diplomatico, diplomatic channel; canali di distribuzione, distribution channels; canali di vendita, sales channels

5 ( radio, tv) channel, band: cambiare canale, to change (o to switch) channels

6 (inform.) bus; channel: canale analogico, analog (o analogic) channel; canale di interfaccia, interface channel; canale di entrata, uscita, input, output channel; canale di trasmissione dati, information channel; (tel.) canale rapido, high-speed channel; canale multiplatore, multiplexor.

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sostantivo maschile

1) (corso d'acqua) canal; (per liquidi) channel; (di chiusa) sluice

2) (via, tramite)

3) geogr. (braccio di mare) (naturale) channel; (artificiale) canal

4) telev. rad. channel

5) anat. (tubo) duct, canal

•

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canale

/ka'nale/

sostantivo m.

 1 (corso d'acqua) canal; (per liquidi) channel; (di chiusa) sluice

 2 (via, tramite) canale commerciale, diplomatico commercial, diplomatic channel

 3 geogr. (braccio di mare) (naturale) channel; (artificiale) canal; il canale della Manica the (English) Channel; il Canal Grande the Grand Canal; il canale di Suez the Suez Canal

 4 telev. rad. channel; potresti cambiare canale? could you switch the TV over?

 5 anat. (tubo) duct, canal

COMPOUNDS

canale navigabile ship canal; canale di scolo drain(pipe).

SUBJECT AREA: Canals, Civil engineering, Ports and shipping, Railways and locomotives

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William Jessop inherited from his father a natural ability in engineering, and because of his father's association with John Smeaton in the construction of Eddystone Lighthouse he was accepted by Smeaton as a pupil in 1759 at the age of 14. Smeaton was so impressed with his ability that Jessop was retained as an assistant after completion of his pupilage in 1767. As such he carried out field-work, making surveys on his own, but in 1772 he was recommended to the Aire and Calder Committee as an independent engineer and his first personally prepared report was made on the Haddlesey Cut, Selby Canal. It was in this report that he gave his first evidence before a Parliamentary Committee. He later became Resident Engineer on the Selby Canal, and soon after he was elected to the Smeatonian Society of Engineers, of which he later became Secretary for twenty years. Meanwhile he accompanied Smeaton to Ireland to advise on the Grand Canal, ultimately becoming Consulting Engineer until 1802, and was responsible for Ringsend Docks, which connected the canal to the Liffey and were opened in 1796. From 1783 to 1787 he advised on improvements to the River Trent, and his ability was so recognized that it made his reputation. From then on he was consulted on the Cromford Canal (1789–93), the Leicester Navigation (1791–4) and the Grantham Canal (1793–7); at the same time he was Chief Engineer of the Grand Junction Canal from 1793 to 1797 and then Consulting Engineer until 1805. He also engineered the Barnsley and Rochdale Canals. In fact, there were few canals during this period on which he was not consulted. It has now been established that Jessop carried the responsibility for the Pont-Cysyllte Aqueduct in Wales and also prepared the estimates for the Caledonian Canal in 1804. In 1792 he became a partner in the Butterley ironworks and thus became interested in railways. He proposed the Surrey Iron Railway in 1799 and prepared for the estimates; the line was built and opened in 1805. He was also the Engineer for the 10 mile (16 km) long Kilmarnock \& Troon Railway, the Act for which was obtained in 1808 and was the first Act for a public railway in Scotland. Jessop's advice was sought on drainage works between 1785 and 1802 in the lowlands of the Isle of Axholme, Holderness, the Norfolk Marshlands, and the Axe and Brue area of the Somerset Levels. He was also consulted on harbour and dock improvements. These included Hull (1793), Portsmouth (1796), Folkestone (1806) and Sunderland (1807), but his greatest dock works were the West India Docks in London and the Floating Harbour at Bristol. He was Consulting Engineer to the City of London Corporation from 1796to 1799, drawing up plans for docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1796; in February 1800 he was appointed Engineer, and three years later, in September 1803, he was appointed Engineer to the Bristol Floating Harbour. Jessop was regarded as the leading civil engineer in the country from 1785 until 1806. He died following a stroke in 1814.

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SUBJECT AREA: Canals, Civil engineering

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First, from 1262, he was engaged in hydraulic-engineering works for Kublai Khan. He began astronomical and calendrical investigations in 1276, and became the greatest astronomer of the Yuan dynasty. He perfected interpolation formulae (a method of finite differences) and was the founder of the study of spherical trigonometry in China; this was applied to the circles of the heavenly sphere. He planned the Ji Zhou, the summit section of the Grand Canal through the Shandong foothills, in 1283. Although the canal had to await further improvement before it could become fully effective, it was nevertheless the world's first successful entirely artificial summit canal.

Guo Shoujing was responsible for the construction of the Tong Hui He (Channel of Communicating Grace) canal with twenty lock gates in 1293, in addition to the overhaul of the entire Grand Canal. He constructed a number of devices, including 40 ft (12 m) gnomons in 1276, with which he made some of the most accurate measurements of the sun's solstitial shadows, the results of which were collected in a book that is now lost. Between 1276 and 1279 he also constructed at least one water-driven mechanical escapement clock with sophisticated jack work, and the Beijing observatory and its equipment.

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SUBJECT AREA: Canals

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Qiao held office as Assistant Transport Commissioner of Huainan c. 984. In the course of his duties he constructed true pound-lock gates on the Huai section of the Grand Canal as a means of preventing tax frauds on grain, which resulted from the frequent wrecking of grain-carrying boats on the canal's double slipways. The pound locks included suspended lock gates (portcullis gates), implying some mechanism for raising and lowering them. The locks were covered over by a shed-like roof and were large enough to accommodate several barges at a time. Qiao's pound locks were the first in any civilization: they probably resembled those illustrated in the work of the Italian writer Vittorio Zonca on machines of the seventeenth century.

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(gen) Elettr, TV fig channel, (artificiale) canal, (condotto) conduit, Anat duct, canal, Alpinismo gully

(gen) Elettr, TV fig channel, (artificiale) canal, (condotto) conduit, Anat duct, canal, Alpinismo gully

the Grand Canal (from Beijing to Hangzhou) (Chin. yunhe)

SUBJECT AREA: Canals

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Ferdinand de Lesseps was born into a family in the diplomatic service and it was intended that his should be his career also. He was educated at the Lycée Napoléon in Paris. In 1825, aged 20, he was appointed an attaché to the French consulate in Lisbon. In 1828 he went to the Consulate-General in Tunis and in 1831 was posted from there to Egypt, becoming French Consul in Cairo two years later. For his work there during the plague in 1836 he was awarded the Croix de Chevalier in the Légion d'honneur. During this time he became very friendly with Said Mohammed and the friendship was maintained over the years, although there were no expectations then that Said would occupy any great position of authority.

De Lesseps then served in other countries. In 1841 he had thought about a canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, and he brooded over the idea until 1854. In October of that year, having retired from the diplomatic service, he returned to Egypt privately. His friend Said became Viceroy and he readily agreed to the proposal to cut the canal. At first there was great international opposition to the idea, and in 1855 de Lesseps travelled to England to try to raise capital. Work finally started in 1859, but there were further delays following the death of Said Pasha in 1863. The work was completed in 1869 and the canal was formally opened by the Empress Eugenic on 20 November 1869. De Lesseps was fêted in France and awarded the Grand Croix de la Légion d'honneur.

He subsequently promoted the project of the Corinth Canal, but his great ambition in his later years was to construct a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. This idea had been conceived by Spanish adventurers in 1514, but everyone felt the problems and cost would be too great. De Lesseps, riding high in popularity and with his charismatic character, convinced the public of the scheme's feasibility and was able to raise vast sums for the enterprise. He proposed a sea-level canal, which required the excavation of a 350 ft (107 m) cut through terrain; this eventually proved impossible, but work nevertheless started in 1881.

In 1882 de Lesseps became first President d'-Honneur of the Syndicat des Entrepreneurs de Travaux Publics de France and was elected to the Chair of the French Academy in 1884. By 1891 the Panama Canal was in a disastrous financial crisis: a new company was formed, and because of the vast sums expended a financial investigation was made. The report led to de Lesseps, his son and several high-ranking government ministers and officials being charged with bribery and corruption, but de Lesseps was a very sick man and never appeared at the trial. He was never convicted, although others were, and he died soon after, at the age of 89, at his home.

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SUBJECT AREA: Canals

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Born into a wealthy Cornish family, he was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford. He was elected Member of Parliament for St Ives in 1774, but it was alleged that his father, who was a banker, had acted as agent for both his son and Drummond, the other candidate for the same party, in the course of which he advanced money to voters "on their notes payable with interest to the bank of Truro (Praed's bank)" but with the understanding that repayment would not be demanded from those who had voted for Praed and Drummond. Praed's election was therefore declared void on 8 May 1775. He was re-elected in 1780, by which time St Ives was virtually a Praed family monopoly. He served in successive Parliaments until 1806 and then represented Banbury until 1808. Meanwhile, in 1779 he had become a partner in his father's Truro bank, c. 1801 founded the London bank of Praed \& Co. at 189 Fleet Street.

While in Parliament, he was instrumental in obtaining and carrying into effect the Bill for the Grand Junction Canal from Braunston to London. He was elected Chairman of the company formed for constructing the canal and proved an excellent choice, serving the company faithfully for nearly thirty years until his resignation in 1821. Upon his marriage to Elizabeth Tyringham in 1778 he made his home at Tyringham Hall in Buckinghamshire and so was very much in the Grand Junction Canal Company's area. London's Praed Street, in which Paddington Station stands, is named in his honour and the canal basin is at the rear of this street. His monument in Tyringham Church bears a relief illustrating a pair of lock gates and a canal boat.

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SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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Francis Egerton was the younger of the two surviving sons of Scroop, 1st Duke of Bridgewater, and on the death of his brother, the 2nd Duke, he succeeded to the title in 1748. Until that time he had received little or no education as his mother considered him to be of feeble intellect. His guardians, the Duke of Bedford and Lord Trentham, decided he should be given an opportunity and sent him to Eton in 1749. He remained there for three years and then went on the "grand tour" of Europe. During this period he saw the Canal du Midi, though whether this was the spark that ignited his interest in canals is hard to say. On his return to England he indulged in the social round in London and raced at Newmarket. After two unsuccessful attempts at marriage he retired to Lancashire to further his mining interests at Worsley, where the construction of a canal to Manchester was already being considered. In fact, the Act for the Bridgewater Canal had been passed at the time he left London. John Gilbert, his land agent at Worsley, encouraged the Duke to pursue the canal project, which had received parliamentary approval in March 1759. Brindley had been recommended on account of his work at Trentham, the estate of the Duke's brother-in-law, and Brindley was consulted and subsequently appointed Engineer; the canal opened on 17 July 1761. This was immediately followed by an extension project from Longford Brook to Runcorn to improve communications between Manchester and Liverpool; this was completed on 31 December 1772, after Brindley's death. The Duke also invested heavily in the Trent \& Mersey Canal, but his interests were confined to his mines and the completed canals for the rest of his life.

It is said that he lacked a sense of humour and even refused to read books. He was untidy in his dress and habits yet he was devoted to the Worsley undertakings. When travelling to Worsley he would have his coach placed on a barge so that he could inspect the canal during the journey. He amassed a great fortune from his various activities, but when he died, instead of leaving his beloved canal to the beneficiaries under his will, he created a trust to ensure that the canal would endure; the trust did not expire until 1903. The Duke is commemorated by a large Corinthian pillar, which is now in the care of the National Trust, in the grounds of his mansion at Ashridge, Hertfordshire.

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