Adjacent Words

cloaca definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (zoology) the cavity (in birds, reptiles, amphibians, most fish, and monotremes but not mammals) at the end of the digestive tract into which the intestinal, genital, and urinary tracts open
2: a waste pipe that carries away sewage or surface water [syn: sewer, sewerage, cloaca]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural cloacae) Etymology: Latin; akin to Greek klyzein to wash — more at clyster Date: 1599 1. sewer III 2. [New Latin, from Latin] the common chamber into which the intestinal and urogenital tracts discharge especially in monotreme mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and elasmobranch fishes; also a comparable chamber of an invertebrate 3. cesspool 2 • cloacal adjective

Britannica Concise

In vertebrates, common chamber and outlet into which the intestinal, urinary, and genital tracts open. It is present in amphibians, reptiles, birds, some fishes (e.g., sharks), and monotreme mammals but is absent in placental mammals and most bony fishes. Certain animals (e.g., many reptiles and some birds, incl. ducks) have an accessory organ (penis) within the cloaca that is used to direct the sperm into the female's cloaca. Most birds mate by joining their cloacas in a "cloacal kiss"; muscular contractions transfer the sperm from the male to the female.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. cloacae) 1 the genital and excretory cavity at the end of the intestinal canal in birds, reptiles, etc. 2 a sewer. Derivatives: cloacal adj. Etymology: L, = sewer

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cloaca Clo"a"ca, n.; pl. Cloac[ae]. [L.] 1. A sewer; as, the Cloaca Maxima of Rome. 2. A privy. 3. (Anat.) The common chamber into which the intestinal, urinary, and generative canals discharge in birds, reptiles, amphibians, and many fishes.