Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The opening at the lower end of the digestive tract through which solid waste is eliminated from the body.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A suffix of Latin adjectives and nouns thence derived: common in New Latin names, especially specific names.
  • noun The termination of the digestive tube or alimentary canal; the end of the enteron of any animal; the orifice through which the refuse of digestion is voided.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Anat.) The posterior opening of the alimentary canal, through which the excrements are expelled.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anatomy The lower opening of the alimentary canal, through which feces and flatus are ejected.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the excretory opening at the end of the alimentary canal

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin ānus, ring, anus.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First attested in 1658, from Old French anus, from Latin ānus ("ring, anus"), from Proto-Indo-European *ano- (“ring”). See also anal, annular, annelid.

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Examples

  • All the children would hear was Tuxedo Mask yelling at another child, and then either “Sailor Moon Has Cancer” or the word anus over and over again.

    i know i am, but what are you? SAMANTHA BEE 2010

  • All the children would hear was Tuxedo Mask yelling at another child, and then either “Sailor Moon Has Cancer” or the word anus over and over again.

    i know i am, but what are you? SAMANTHA BEE 2010

  • I love you too, Pollyanna but our relationship must remain platonic as my anus is already losing its elasticity from 30 years in banking. morgaine7

    AM I CUTE? 2006

  • The most important procedure is the separation of the anus from the carcass and the pelvic area.

    Field & Stream 2008

  • The most important procedure is the separation of the anus from the carcass and the pelvic area.

    Field & Stream 2008

  • The anus is far forward of the anal fin and located on the throat of adults.

    Think Progress » “When I caught a 7.5 pound perch in my lake” 2006

  • It will be like admitting that you admire a pedophile, that you support genocide, that torture and and sticking your finger up your anus, is a good thing.

    Think Progress » Video: Pentagon Aide Admits Having “Drilled Through” Questions For Photo-Op 2005

  • The still-living juvenile inside of me hears the word anus and giggles, bursting with the need to crack endless jokes or just to say the word anus over and over again and laugh uncontrollably.

    HumidCity 2010

  • It’s nothing personal, and I don’t have a great deal of discomfort about a medical exam of that part of my body (my anus is another issue … it’s all they can do to unpry me from a fetal position) – they could go spelunking about in there all day if I had something nice to look at on the ceiling.

    a quick thought before bed « Love | Peace | Ohana 2008

  • 7 Responses to “Kinetic Sculptures – BMW (South Africa) Inspiring Commercial” the most amazing kinetic sculptures at my anus is godot Says:

    Beautiful Africa 2006

Comments

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  • Amazing! How can it be that nobody's listed this word? It's like, everybody's opinion, right!?

    December 31, 2006

  • anus is such a gross word! the only reason I looked it up is because I need the definition for school. I am learning about the human body in class.

    March 5, 2011

  • Industry dictionaries and netymologists typically ignore syntax. In the case of Latin the syntax was "anus culi", ring of the arse... The diminutive appears in Italian anello "'ring" (on finger). Italian anello is not understood as "little anus".

    March 11, 2012

  • Citation on freeber.

    March 26, 2012