Adjacent Words

Orifice definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

OR'IFICE, n. [L. orificium; os, oris, mouth, and facio, to make.]
The mouth or aperture of a tube, pipe or other cavity; as the orifice of an artery or vein; the orifice of a wound.
The orifice of Etna.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an aperture or hole that opens into a bodily cavity; "the orifice into the aorta from the lower left chamber of the heart" [syn: orifice, opening, porta]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French & Late Latin; Middle French, from Late Latin orificium, from Latin or-, os mouth + facere to make, do — more at oral, do Date: 15th century an opening (as a vent, mouth, or hole) through which something may pass • orificial adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. an opening, esp. the mouth of a cavity, a bodily aperture, etc. Etymology: F f. LL orificium f. os oris mouth + facere make

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Orifice Or"i*fice, n. [F., from L. orificium; os, oris, a mouth + facere to make. See Oral, and Fact.] A mouth or aperture, as of a tube, pipe, etc.; an opening; as, the orifice of an artery or vein; the orifice of a wound. --Shak. Etna was bored through the top with a monstrous orifice. --Addison.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(orifices) An orifice is an opening or hole, especially one in your body such as your mouth. (FORMAL) After a massive heart attack, he was strapped to a bed, with tubes in every orifice. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Hole, aperture, perforation, pore, vent, mouth.

Moby Thesaurus

aperture, broaching, cavity, chasm, check, clearing, cleft, crack, disclosure, fenestra, fistula, fontanel, foramen, gap, gape, gat, gulf, hiatus, hole, hollow, inlet, interval, lacuna, laying open, leak, opening, opening up, outlet, passageway, pore, slot, space, split, stoma, throwing open, uncorking, unstopping, vent, yawn