vent

An opening through which gases, especially air, can pass.

Noun

  1. An opening through which gases, especially air, can pass.
    • the vent of a cask; the vent of a mould
    • According to geologists who work in the area, the vents at Castello Aragonese have been spewing carbon dioxide for at least several hundred years, maybe longer. - 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An...
  2. A small aperture.
    • Look, how thy wounds do bleed at many vents. - c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:...
    • There, at one Paſſage, oft you might ſurvey / A Lye and Truth contending for the vvay; / And long 'tvvas doubtful, both ſo cloſely pent, / VVhich firſt ſhould iſſue thro the narrovv Vent: […] - 1715, [Alexander] Pope,...
  3. An opening in a volcano from which lava or gas flows.
  4. A rant; a long session of expressing verbal frustration.
  5. The excretory opening of lower orders of vertebrates; cloaca.
  6. A slit in the seam of a garment.
  7. The opening at the breech of a firearm, through which fire is communicated to the powder of the charge.

    Synonyms: touch hole

  8. In steam boilers, a sectional area of the passage for gases divided by the length of the same passage in feet.
  9. Opportunity of escape or passage from confinement or privacy; outlet.
  10. Emission; escape; passage to notice or expression; publication; utterance.
    • without the vent of words - 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC;...
    • Thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel. - c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
  11. Discharge, efflux
    • Whenever, in cases of the morbus mucosus, the vent of urine is impeded, or if the urine itself is morbid in quality, the result […] is that there is a sense of heat and pain in the medulla spinalis, which is opposite to...
    • she had two more teeth out, with vent of pus from bicuspid - 1908, Kenneth Weldon Goadby, “Two Cases Of Acute Pyorrhoea Alveolaris Treated By A Specific Vaccine”, in British Medical Journal, volume 2, number 2486:

Origin

Partly from Middle French vent, from Latin ventus and partly from French éventer. Cognate with French vent and Spanish viento (“wind”) and ventana (“window”). Doublet of wind.

Forms

vents

Related

seal

Derived

air admittance vent air vent fissure vent give vent to hydrothermal vent O'Shea's vent barnacle pie vent ridge vent vent pecking vent-piece vent stack vent window

Noun Entry 2

  1. Ventriloquism.

Origin

Clipping of ventriloquism.

Forms

vents

Derived

vent puppet

Noun obsolete

  1. A baiting place; an inn.

Origin

From Spanish venta (“a poor inn, sale, market”).

Forms

vents

Noun medicine, sciences

  1. Clipping of ventilation or ventilator.
    • I have adjusted the vent settings.

Origin

Clipping.

Forms

vents

Verb Entry 5

  1. To allow gases to escape.
    • The stove vents to the outside.
  2. To allow gases to escape from (a sealed space, container, etc.).
    • In the engine room, the changing angle dropped the melted core to the deck. The hot mass attacked the steel deck first, burning through that, then the titanium of the hull. Five seconds later the engine room was vented...
  3. To allow to escape through a vent.
    • Exhaust is vented to the outside.
  4. To express a strong emotion.
    • He vents his anger violently.
    • Can we talk? I need to vent.
    • He inveighed against the folly of making oneself liable for the debts of others; vented many bitter execrations against the brother; and concluded with wishing something could be done for the unfortunate family. - 1749,...

    Synonyms: let off steam

  5. To snuff; to breathe or puff out; to snort.
    • Seest, howe brag yond Bullocke beares, So smirke, so smoothe, his pricked eares?[…] See howe he venteth into the wynd. - 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Februarie. Ægloga Secunda.”, in The Shepheardes...
  6. To determine the sex of (a chick) by opening up the anal vent or cloaca.
  7. Of an otter: to emerge from the water to breathe in air.
  8. To use a vent in the video game Among Us. [with to ‘to go (somewhere)’]
    • We suspect they’ve vented to medbay and are intending to use some kind of surgical tools to ‘upgrade’ the original Among Us with a bunch of cool new features and levels, instead of starting over from scratch with the...
    • “Among Us” has become ingrained into Generation Z’s culture in such a way that phrases such as “yellow is sus,” “purple vented” or “skip vote” are part of our daily vernacular. - 2020 November 19, Muhammad Tariq, “Those...
    • When you’re venting as an impostor, you’ll be able to peer through the grille to see who’s passing by. - 2022 June 9, Kris Holt, “‘Among Us VR’ Trailer Shows First-Person Tasks, Venting And Emergency Meetings”, in...

Forms

vents venting vented

Derived

vent one's gall vent one's spleen vent sex

Verb Entry 6

  1. To sell; to vend.
    • Therefore did those nations […]vent such spice. - 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):

Origin

From French vente, from Latin vendere (“to sell”).

Forms

vents venting vented

Verb medicine, sciences

  1. To ventilate; to use a ventilator; to use ventilation.

Forms

vents venting vented

Related

vent one's gall vent one's spleen

Derived

venting vented