orifice

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“
In the female (Fig 9) there is a shallow external orifice which is continued into the bladder by a short canal, the urethra, the remaining urinary surface being the same as in the male; the external opening also is extended into the short, wide tube of the vagina, which is continuous with the canal of the uterus.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun An opening, especially to a cavity or passage of the body; a mouth or vent.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • The other orifice should be used for completely different purposes. —  timesofmalta.com
  • So he spends his days in a tri-corner hat, and his nights dealing with his sex addiction by going to 12-step meetings and inserting his man-parts into whatever human orifice is admitting that it is powerless over its addiction. —  Tucson Weekly
  • There are three parts to a hernia - the orifice, the hernia sac, and the hernia's contents. —  Health News from Medical News Today
  • New dual flow path shock absorbers are designed for responsiveness and reduced ride harshness, while the new twin-orifice (I don't want to even think about going there!) speed-sensitive power steering feels great. —  Breaking News - The Post Chronicle
  • By scissors._--The blunt point of a pair of scissors is introduced through the preputial orifice, the other blade being outside, and the skin and mucous membrane are divided for about half an inch; the skin being then retracted, the mucous membrane is still further divided by one or two additional snips, and then the edges of skin and mucous membrane are stitched together by one or two points of suture 2. —  A Manual of the Operations of Surgery For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

opening ·  nozzle ·  cavity ·  aperture ·  slit ·  vent ·  crevice ·  sphincter ·  mucosa ·  outlet ·  duct ·  valve

Used in the same contextWord Family

orifice:   orifices
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin ōrificium : Latin ōs, ōr-, mouth; see ōs- in Indo-European roots + Latin -ficium, a making, doing (from facere, to make; see dhē- in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also orifis; from French orifice = Spanish Portuguese orificio = Italian orifizio, orificio, from Late Latin orificium, an opening, literally the making of a mouth, from L. os (or-), mouth, + facere, make.
 

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/ˈɑrɪfɪs/
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