French drain

noun — 2 senses

French drain

noun

Etymology Named after American inventor Henry F. French.

1

A shallow trench, sometimes lined with tile or containing a perforated pipe, backfilled with gravel and then covered over, used to collect and channel runoff water.

2

A gravel-filled corridor with a perforated pipe running through it that runs against the foundation footings of a building, used to collect ground water and drain it away from the building's interior.

Synonyms
weeping tile, foundation drain, rubble drain

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.