sweat hole

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   An opening in the skin through which sweat is excreted

   An opening in the skin through which sweat is excreted; pore.

   • Skin surface consists of four elements such as furrows, ridges, hair holes and sweat holes.
   • "[…] if the sweat were found, to all appearance, to flow less freely through the supposed sweat-holes than elsewhere".
2. 2

   A large hole in the ground, heated with a fire, into which a sick person is brought…

   A large hole in the ground, heated with a fire, into which a sick person is brought wrapped in blankets (once the fire is removed), with a jug of water for making steam, the whole covered by an awning to hold the steam in; an underground sweat lodge.

   • On the lake shore were some other camping places that had been used within a few months and at one of them a newly made "sweat hole" where the medicine man had treated the sick .
   • The father went to the sweat hole and dug it wide enough for him to get inside with the limp body of his son.
   • Close by there was a sweat hole in which the men were accustomed to taking Turkish baths before ceremonies and also to avoid the nagging of their womenfolk.
3. 3

   An uncomfortably hot enclosed space.

   • Even though the mercury was rising to treble figures in this underground sweat hole they were in, Vince saw that Guy Ruley remained cool and calculating, operating with all the heart of a humming refrigerator.
   • As soon as the doctor testified that some blustery old politician was crazy, they could give the kid back and get the hell out of this sweat-hole.
   • Even if I found a way out of this sweat hole, I doubted I'd survive long enough to claw my way out.

The neighborhood