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cloaca

noun
/kləʊˈeɪ.kə/UK/kloʊˈeɪ.kə/US

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloāca (“sewer”), related to cluō (“cleanse; purge”), but the derivation is uncertain.

  1. borrowed from cloāca

Definitions

  1. A sewer.

    • The Thames, polluted with the filthy effusions of the cloacae.
    • […] that tremendous cloaca of Pauperism […]

  2. The opening in reptiles, amphibians and birds, as well as elasmobranchians, lobe-finned…

    The opening in reptiles, amphibians and birds, as well as elasmobranchians, lobe-finned fishes, and monotreme mammals, which serves as the common outlet for the urogenital ducts and rectum.

    • In birds the rectum, at the termination of its canal, forms an oval or elongated pouch […] and then expands into a cavity, which has been named cloaca.

  3. An outhouse or lavatory.

    • To every house […] a cloaca.
    • Only think of that cloaca being supplied daily with such dainty bibliographical treasures!
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. A duct through which gangrenous material escapes a body.

      • Across this shell [sc. of bone] small holes are eaten, by which the matter escapes, and which are called cloacae (Weidmann).

    2. Structure in the embryo during the development of the reproductive and urinary systems.

The neighborhood

Derived

cloacal, cloacinal, cloacitis, persistent cloaca

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at cloaca. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01cloaca02amphibians03amphibian04land05erected06erect07penis08cloacas

A definitional loop anchored at cloaca. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at cloaca

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA