Definition of "funnel"

funnel¹

/ˈfʌnəl/

noun
plural funnels
1. A utensil in the shape of an inverted hollow cone terminating in a narrow pipe, for channeling liquids or granular material; typically used when transferring said substances from any container into ones with a significantly smaller opening.
2. A passage or avenue for a fluid or flowing substance; specifically, a smoke flue or pipe; the chimney of a steamship or the like.
3. (marketing, figurative) Ellipsis of purchase funnel: the process of customer acquisition conceptualized as a series of stages, from initial awareness (top) to sale or conversion (bottom).
  Quotations
  Then there's the funnel. Marketing usually spends most of their time at the top of the funnel with a quantity strategy. On the other hand, Sales spends their time trying to convert, accelerate, or close accounts that are in the middle or bottom of the funnel.
  2019, Chris Golec, Peter Isaacson, Jessica Fewless, Account-Based Marketing: How to Target and Engage the Companies That Will Grow Your Revenue, John Wiley & Sons, page 41
verb
third-person singular simple present funnels, present participle funnelling or funneling, simple past and past participle funnelled or funneled
1. (transitive) To use a funnel.
2. (intransitive) To proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel; to condense or narrow.
  Quotations
  A line of clocks in our cheap hotel displays the time in Lagos, Bucharest, Kiev: the capitals of pilgrims who come to kneel at the birthplace of Christ. In reality the entire world funnels through the Church of the Nativity.
  2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)
3. (transitive) To channel, direct, or focus (emotions, money, resources, etc.).
  Quotations
  Like so many others, I was awestruck by the first season, which captured a moment in time and successfully funnelled its rage outwards at a world in which women are indeed silenced, controlled and killed by men.
  2018 June 16, Fiona Sturges, “Cattleprods! Severed tongues! Torture porn! Why I’ve stopped watching the Handmaid’s Tale”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, archived from the original on 5 February 2020
  The Soviet Union had a substantially larger land army, considerably larger than NATO and the U.S.,” Sharpless said. […] So, one strategy was to block various access routes and perhaps funnel them into an area where you could use larger weapons against them.
  2019 January 7, Paul Srubas, “His job was to place atomic bombs. Place them, not drop them. Set the timer. Run like hell.”, in Green Bay Press-Gazette‎
  He was alive to every creak and dunt, the thinness of the walls, as if the tenement block was a kind of aural panopticon that funnelled every sound to the other residents, let everyone eavesdrop on their business.
  2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 274
4. (transitive) To consume (beer, etc.) rapidly through a funnel, typically as a stunt at a party.
  Quotations
  The first time he did it was to this freshman Kevin Ryers and we all just burst out laughing, watching Kevin try to funnel a beer.
  2013, Jonathan Caren, The Recommendation, page 31

funnel²

/ˈfʌnəl/

noun
plural funnels
1. Alternative form of fummel (“hybrid animal”)