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C. Of a mine, or powder : To
fectly ;
VENT. 104 VENT*
explode imper-
to lose explosive jwwer.
1684 J. Peter Suffe VieuMa 41 At which time they sprung
two Mines.. without any considerable Effect, one of them
taking Vent. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compi. Card, I.
27 Gun-Powder, which being bad, or having taken Vent,
cannot lake Fire.
6.y?^. a. Means of outlet afforded to or obtained
by a feeling, faculty, activity, etc. ; expression or
utterance, or the relief afforded by these. Now
chiefly in the phr. tofind i>eni {in something).
1603 J. Daviks (Heref.) Aficrocosmos Wks. (Grosart) I.
76/3 Griefes doe breake the heart if vent they misse. i68a
Drvdks .yUiiaiz^s The swelling Poison of the sevVal Sects,
Which, wanting vent, the Nations Health infects. 1724 A.
Collins Gr. Chr. Ke/i^. Pref. p. xxviii, Enthusiasm . . would
spend itself by free vent and amicable collision. 1803
JCdwtH I. 206 At his words I found my angry passions heave
for vent. 1838 Fr. A. Kemhle Kesui. in iUor^iaUZS^,) 13
A malevolent feeling, which might find vent in some violent
demonstration against this family. 1880 W.H. 'Dwqk Royal
H'tHtlsor III. xii. 113 Passion found vent in words.
t b. To ^et or have vent^ = sense 4
1667DRVDEN& Dk. Newcastle ^/ril/. Mar-all ui. ii, This
frightened him into a study how to cloak your disgrace, lest
it should have vent to his lady. 167a Mabvkll Jielt. Trattsp.
t. 46 Should they unhappily get vent abroad, . . what scandal
must it raise ! a 1715 Burnet Own Time {i-j66) 11. 197 But
the thing had got some vent. i7aa De For: Plague 2 As it
had gotten some Vent in the Discourse of the neighbourhood,
the Secretaries of State gat Knowledge of it.
6. With a : An opportunity or occasion of escaping
or issuing from a receptacle ; a discharge or
evacuation. (Cf. 12,)
1644 Z. BovD Gard. Zion in ZiotCs Fltnuers (1855) App.
lo/i Which by some chink, if it get not a vent, Blowes up
the bung, or doth the Hodg-head rent. 1672 R. Wild
Poft. Licent. 30 The other day into a place I went, Where
Mortals use to go, that want a vent. 1719 De Foe Crusoe
I. (Globe) 290, I verily believe, if it had not been eas'd by a
Vent given in that Manner, to tlie Spirits, I should have
dy'd. 17*5 N, RoBrNSo>j Tk. Physick 255 Wliereupon the
Fluids.. run to the Bowels for a Vent.
b. fig.
(Cf. senses 3 and 5.) Now chiefly tofind
a vent.
\a) a 1614 D. DvKE Mysi. Self-Deceiving {1620) 341 Tappes
to giue a vent to corruption. 1669 Gale Crt. Gentiles
I. I. ix. 49 The Egyptians, .gave a great vent to Jewish
Learning and Institutes. 1777 Pitt in Almon Anecd.
(i8io) II. xliv. 319, I could not have slept.. without giving
this vent to my eternal abhorrence of such preposterous and
enormous principles.
[b) 1697 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. (1703) 64 Those who
live within the communication of friendship have a vent for
their misfortunes. 1814 Wordsw. Excurs. ix. 752 For,
though in whispers speaking, the full heart Will find a vent.
1838 pREscoTT Ferd. ^ Is. Introd. (1846) I. 60 The tumultuous
spirits of the aristocracy, ..instead of finding a vent..
in these foreign expeditions, were turned witliin. 1873
Black Princess Thule (1874) 46 His distress at his own
rudeness now found an easy vent.
7. Something which serves as an outlet for an
emotion, energy, etc.
1667 MiLTON P. L. xiL 374 With such joy Surcharg'd, as
had like grief bin dew'd in tears, Without the vent of words.
1713 Guardian No. 29, Laughter is a vent of any sudden
ioy. i8a8 Southev Minor Poems Poet. Wks. 1837 II. 255
This love,, .and the woe Which makes tliy lip now quiver
with distress. Are but a vent.. From the deep springs of
female tenderness. 1838 Lvtton Eugene A. i. x, Words at
best are but a poor vent for a wronged and burning heart,
1883 tgth Cent. May 887 The French have, .to find and to
use such vents for their energy in undeveloped and promi.sing
regions.
II. t8. Sc. A flaw in a mould. Obs.-'^
a. Oh,
Fr. event is used in similar senses.
1541 Ace. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VIIL 125 At the quhilk
melting becaus of ane vent in the cuppeling of the mulde
witht the tayll, the pece fel^eit.
9. t a. An opening by wliich blood issues from
the body. Obs.
1567 Maplet Gr. Forest 7 b, Einatites..is called of some
stench bloud, for that it stoppeth liis vent or course of flowing.
x6o6 Shaks. Ant. ^ CI. v. ii. 35;} Heere on her brest
There is a vent of Bloud, and something blowne.
b. The anus, anal, or excretory opening of
(tpersons or) animals, esp, of certain non-mammalians,
as birds, fishes, and reptiles ; f the vulva
of a female animal.
1587 Fleming Contu. Holinshcd III. 1270/2 For those
that bled till they died, stroue so much with their sickenesse,
that the bloud issued out at their vents. 1655 Moufet
& Bennet Health's Ivtprov. (1746) 241 As for their [i. e.
crabs'] manner of Preparation, their Vents are first to be
stopped with a Stick's end. 1675 Hannah WooLLEvG^M/Z^y.
Conip. 132 Geese Boiled. . . Fasten the neck and vent. Ibid.
T46 Take a Pig, and draw out his Entrails, Liver, and
Lights, draw him very clean at vent. 1697 Drvden Virg.
Georg. HI. 421 For when her pouting Vent declares her
Pain, She [i.e. a mare] tears the Harness, and she rends the
Rein. 1769 .Mrs. Raffald Eng. Honsekpr. (1778) 21 Take
a lobster, if it be alive, stick a skewer in the vent of the tail.
i77J,GoLDSM. A^a/. Hist. 11776) IV. 347 Like birds, they [i.e.
sloths] have but one common vent for the purposes of propagation,
excrement, and urine. 1790 Bewick Hist. Quadrup.
(1807) 488 As soon as the Otter has caught a fish, it..
devours a part, as far as the vent. '1833 Jahdine Humming-
B.\ii The vent and under laibcoverts are dirty white. 1874
Carpenter Meut. I'kys. i. ii. (1879) 68 If the vent of a Frog
be irritated with a probe, the hind-legs will endeavour to
push it away.
10. An aperture or opening occnrring or made
in something and serving as an outlet for air,
liqxiid, or other matter ; a passage or hole by
which matter is carried off or discharged from the
a vent-hole.
1570 Levins Manip. 66 A Vent, meatus, poms. 1580
interior of something ;
Hahvev Three Lett. Wks. (Grosart) I. 44 The poores, and
ventes, and crannies of the Earth being so stopped. 1605 B.
JoNsoN Voiponew. iv. Now, he flings about his burning heat,
.As in a furnace, some ambitious fire, Whose vent is stopt.
1648 WiLKiNS Math. Magic \\. xii. 250 Others are of opinion
that this may be effected in a hollow vessell, exactly luted
or stopped up in all the vents of it. 1677 in Misc. Curiosa
(1708) HI. 249 T'hey leave a small vent about two Inches
from the bottom, by which it empties it self into a little Pit.
..The vent being stopped, they fill the Cistern they have
made with Water. 1712-4 Pope Rape Lock iv. 92 The
swelling bag he rent, And all the Furies issu'd at the vent.
i7a8 E. Smith Compl. Houseiv. (1750) 3 If the knife be
greatly daubed, has a rank smell, and a hoogoo issue from
the vent, it is tainted. 1796 Morse Amer. Geogr, I. 609
The Shenandoah having ranged along the foot of the mountain
an hundred miles to seek a vent. 1831 T. Holland
Manuf. dieted II. 165 It was generally thought sufficient
for the purpose, .that the smoke should ascend the proper
vent. 1877 in J. A. Allen Amer. Bison App. 459 There are
old spring vents,. that no longer give forth saline waters.
b. Spec, An aperture or outlet by which volcanic
matter or exhalations are emitted ; the funnel or
pipe of a volcano.
1604 Y..Kj\K\vi?,-XQt^^\D^Acosta*s Hist. Indies in. xxiv. 193
Although we finde vents of fire in other places, as mount
^tna and Wesuvio. 1684-5 Boyle Min. Waters 19 Any
subterraneal fire, that hath manifest chimneys or vents.
17*5 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 242 A volcano, or
burning vent among the hills, had flamed out. 1772-84
Cook's Voy. (1790) IV. 1219 Another volcano, which had
opened by at least thirty different vents within the compass
of half a mile. 1830 Lyell Princ. GeoL I. 135 These igneous
vents were extremely numerous. 1869 J. Phillips
Vesuxi. iii. 60 A new vent was formed below the lip of the
old mountain. 1882 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. 201 A 'solfatara
', or vent emitting only gaseous discharges.
c. In various special uses (see quots.).
1611 CoTGR., Esz'cnt, the vent of a wine vessell. 1730
Bailkv (fob), Vents (in Archit.), Pipes of Lead or Potters-
Ware, one End of which opens into a Cell of a Necessary-
House, the other reaching to the Roof of it for tlie Conveyance
of the fetid Air; also Apertures made in those Walls
that sustain Terrasses to furnish Air, and to give a Passage
for the Waters. 1756 Diet. Arts