| vent | To snuff; to breathe or puff out; to snort. Origin: Cf. F. Venter to blow, vent wind (see Ventilate); but prob influenced by E. Vent an opening. 1. A small aperture; a hole or passage for air or any fluid to escape; as, the vent of a cask; the vent of a mold; a volcanic vent. "Look, how thy wounds do bleed at many vents." (Shak) "Long't was doubtful, both so closely pent, Which first should issue from the narrow vent." (Pope) 2. <zoology> Specifically: The anal opening of certain invertebrates and fishes; also, the external cloacal opening of reptiles, birds, amphibians, and many fishes. The opening at the breech of a firearm, through which fire is communicated to the powder of the charge; touchhole. Sectional area of the passage for gases divided by the length of the same passage in feet. 3. Opportunity of escape or passage from confinement or privacy; outlet. 4. Emission; escape; passage to notice or expression; publication; utterance. "Without the vent of words." (Milton) "Thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel." (Shak) To give vent to, to suffer to escape; to let out; to pour forth; as, to give vent to anger. To take vent, to escape; to be made public. <zoology> Vent feather A bush. See 4th Bush. A breech block. Origin: OE. Fent, fente, a slit, F. Fente a slit, cleft, fissure, from fendre to split, L. Findere; but probably confused with F. Vent wind, L. Ventus. See Fissure, and cf. Vent to snuff. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| vol-au-vent | A light puff paste, with a raised border, filled, after baking, usually with a ragout of fowl, game, or fish. Origin: F. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| hydrothermal vent | A natural spring which vents warm or hot water on the sea floor, associated with spreading of the Earth's crust. (09 Oct 1997) |
| Deep Vent DNA polymerase | <enzyme> A thermostable DNA polymerase with putative proofreading activity Registry number: EC 2.7.7.- (26 Jun 1999) |
| perilimbal suction cup | A device for increasing intraocular pressure by impeding circulation and aqueous humor flow from the eye. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Wangensteen suction | A modified siphon that maintains constant negative pressure, used with a duodenal tube for the relief of gastric and intestinal distention. Synonym: Wangensteen tube. (05 Mar 2000) |
| posttussis suction sound | A sound produced by the falling back of a drop of mucus or pus into a pulmonary cavity after the latter has been emptied by coughing. (05 Mar 2000) |
| posttussive suction | A suction sound heard on auscultation over a pulmonary cavity at the end of a cough. (05 Mar 2000) |
| suction | The act or process of sucking; the act of drawing, as fluids, by exhausting the air. Suction chamber, the chamber of a pump into which the suction pipe delivers. Suction pipe, Suction valve, the induction pipe, and induction valve, of a pump, respectively. Suction pump, the common pump, in which the water is raised into the barrel by atmospheric pressure. Origin: L. Sugere, suctum, to suck; cf. OF. Suction. See Suck. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| suction cup | One of the cupping glasses of various shapes, formerly used to produce local hyperaemia according to Bier's method. Wet cup, a cupping glass formerly applied to a part previously scarified or incised to draw and remove blood. (05 Mar 2000) |
| suction drainage | Closed drainage of a cavity, with a suction apparatus attached to the drainage tube. (05 Mar 2000) |
| suction ophthalmodynamometer | An ophthalmodynamometer with a suction disk which increases ocular pressure during ophthalmoscopic observation of the retinal artery. (05 Mar 2000) |
| suction plate | In dentistry, a plate held in place by atmospheric pressure. (05 Mar 2000) |