airhole
See also: air hole
English
Etymology
air + hole
Noun
airhole (plural airholes)
- A hole provided for ventilation or breathing.
- 1887, H. Rider Haggard, Jess:
- "This wall is badly built," he went on in a careless tone; "look, there is another space there at the back;" and he actually came up to it and held the lantern close to the airhole in such fashion that its light shone through into Jess's eyes and nearly blinded her.
- 1914, Morris Hicky Morgan, Ten Books on Architecture:
- For if they touch one another, and so do not leave airholes and admit draughts of air to blow between them, they get heated and soon begin to rot.
- 1995 July 14, Albert Williams, “Words First”, in Chicago Reader:
- The youngest son, Vardaman, is unable to cope with Addie's death and drills airholes in her coffin (and accidentally into her head) and insistently declares, "My mother is a fish"--like the big one he recently caught and gutted.
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- A hole in ice through which air escapes.
- 1901, Jack London, The God of His Fathers:
- Through these and through countless airholes, the water began to sweep across the surface of the ice, and by the time he pulled into a woodchopper's cabin on the point of an island, the dogs were being rushed off their feet and were swimming more often than not.
- 1914, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys in Alaska:
- "Even if it is hard enough, there may be airholes around."
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