Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A spiracle, in any sense.
  • noun A breathing-hole in the aventaile, beaver, or mesail of a helmet.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • John, I think she cast a "spiraculum constrictus" spell on you.

    Harry Potter James F. McGrath 2009

  • It is said, "God made man of the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils (spiraculum vitae) the breath of life, and man was made a living soul."

    Leviathan 2007

  • “Inspiravit in faciem ejus spiraculum,” or “spiritum vitæ” — And he breathed upon his face the breath of life; and, according to the Hebrew, he breathed into his nostrils the breath, the spirit, of life.

    A Philosophical Dictionary 2007

  • Si quis autem vitrum de hac arena factum in fossa reponeret, conuerteretur iterum in arenam, et qui imponeret frustum metalli, verteretur in vitrum: nonnulli reputant hanc fossam esse spiraculum maris arenosi, de quo mari aliquid locuturus sum in sequentibus.

    The Voyages and Travels of Sir John Mandeville 2004

  • Si quis autem vitrum de hac arena factum in fossa reponeret, conuerteretur iterum in arenam, et qui imponeret frustum metalli, verteretur in vitrum: nonnulli reputant hanc fossam esse spiraculum maris arenosi, de quo mari aliquid locuturus sum in sequentibus.

    The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation 2003

  • The female protects them by coiling herself round the egg-mass, which the young do not leave till after the loss of the very large external gills (one on each side); they then lead an aquatic life, and are provided with an opening, or spiraculum, on each side of the neck.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" Various

  • Si quis autem vitrum de hac arena factum in fossa reponeret, conuerteretur iterum in arenam, et qui imponeret frustum metalli, verteretur in vitrum: nonnulli reputant hanc fossam esse spiraculum maris arenosi, de quo mari aliquid locuturus sum in sequentibus.

    The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 08 Asia, Part I Richard Hakluyt 1584

  • Cuncta in quibus spiraculum vitæ est, mortua sunt.

    The Dance of Death Hans Holbein 1520

  • (And to everything wherein there is a living soul [every green herb], for meat.) “Et inspiravit in faciem ejus spiraculum vitæ, et factus est homo in animam viventem.”

    A Philosophical Dictionary 2007

  • For as to the forms of substances (man only except, of whom it is said, Formavit hominem de limo terrae, et spiravit in faciem ejus spiraculum vitae, and not as of all other creatures, Producant aquae, producat terra), the forms of substances I say (as they are now by compounding and transplanting multiplied) are so perplexed, as they are not to be inquired; no more than it were either possible or to purpose to seek in gross the forms of those sounds which make words, which by composition and transposition of letters are infinite.

    The Advancement of Learning 2003

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