vent

• IPA^(key): /vɛnt/

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• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Partly from Middle French vent, from Latin ventus and partly from French éventer. Cognate with French vent and Spanish viento (“wind”) and ventana (“window”). Doublet of wind.

vent (plural vents)

A vent (opening) in the wall of a house.

1. An opening through which gases, especially air, can pass.

   the vent of a cask; the vent of a mould

   • 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 122:

     According to geologists who work in the area, the vents at Castello Aragonese have been spewing carbon dioxide for at least several hundred years, maybe longer.

2. A small aperture.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene iii]:

     Look, how thy wounds do bleed at many vents.

   • 1715, [Alexander] Pope, The Temple of Fame: A Vision, London: […] Bernard Lintott […], OCLC 1011870211, page 41:

     There, at one Paſſage, oft you might ſurvey / A Lye and Truth contending for the vvay; / And long 'tvvas doubtful, both ſo cloſely pent, / VVhich firſt ſhould iſſue thro the narrovv Vent: […]

3. An opening in a volcano from which lava or gas flows.
4. A rant; a long session of expressing verbal frustration.
5. The excretory opening of lower orders of vertebrates.
6. A slit in the seam of a garment.
7. The opening at the breech of a firearm, through which fire is communicated to the powder of the charge.

   Synonym: touch hole

8. In steam boilers, a sectional area of the passage for gases divided by the length of the same passage in feet.
9. Opportunity of escape or passage from confinement or privacy; outlet.
10. Emission; escape; passage to notice or expression; publication; utterance.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

      without the vent of words

    • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iii]:

      Thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel.

• cloaca
• seal

vent (third-person singular simple present vents, present participle venting, simple past and past participle vented)

1. (intransitive) To allow gases to escape.

   The stove vents to the outside.

2. (transitive) To allow to escape through a vent.

   Exhaust is vented to the outside.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To express a strong emotion.

   He vents his anger violently.

   Can we talk? I need to vent.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:

     He inveighed against the folly of making oneself liable for the debts of others; vented many bitter execrations against the brother; and concluded with wishing something could be done for the unfortunate family.

   • 2013 June 18, Simon Romero, "Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders," New York Times (retrieved 21 June 2013):

     But the demonstrators remained defiant, pouring into the streets by the thousands and venting their anger over political corruption, the high cost of living and huge public spending for the World Cup and the Olympics.

4. To snuff; to breathe or puff out; to snort.
   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Februarie. Aegloga Secunda.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], OCLC 606515406; reprinted as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, The Shepheardes Calender […], London: John C. Nimmo, […], 1890, OCLC 890162479:

     Seest, howe brag yond Bullocke beares, So smirke, so smoothe, his pricked eares? […] See howe he venteth into the wynd.

5. (transitive) To determine the sex of (a chick) by opening up the anal vent or cloaca.

Clipping of ventriloquism

vent (plural vents)

1. Ventriloquism.

• vent puppet

From French vente, from Latin vendere (“to sell”).

vent (third-person singular simple present vents, present participle venting, simple past and past participle vented)

1. To sell; to vend.
   • 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], OCLC 37026674, (please specify |book=1 to 5):

     Therefore did those nations […] vent such spice.

From Spanish venta (“a poor inn, sale, market”).

vent (plural vents)

1. (obsolete) A baiting place; an inn.

Clipping.

vent (plural vents)

1. (medicine, colloquial) Clipping of ventilation or ventilator.

   I have adjusted the vent settings.

vent (third-person singular simple present vents, present participle venting, simple past and past participle vented)

1. (medicine, colloquial) To ventilate; to use a ventilator; to use ventilation.

• venting (n.)
• vented (adj.)

• Env't

From Old Catalan vent, from Latin ventus, from Proto-Italic *wentos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts < *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈvent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ˈben/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ent

vent m (plural vents)

1. wind (movement of air).
2. (castells) A casteller in the pinya standing between the laterals, and holding the right leg of one segon and the left leg of another (primer vent), or a casteller placed behind one of the primers vents.

• “vent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “vent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “vent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “vent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• IPA^(key): [ˈvɛnˀd̥]

vent

1. imperative of vente

• Rhymes: -ɛnt

• audio

  (file)

From Middle Dutch vent (“hero; man”). Unknown earlier origin. Compare West Frisian feint (“servant; fellow; boyfriend”), Low German Fent (“young fellow”), Saterland Frisian Wäänt (“boy, lad”).

• Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *fanþijō (“walker, walking”), from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to go, pass”). This would make it related to Dutch vinden (“to find; (archaic) to explore”) and cognate to Old High German fendo (“footsoldier”) and Old English fēþa (“footsoldier”). The expected descendant in Dutch would have been vend(e), which existed in Middle Dutch as vende (“pawn in a chess game; farmer”). Final-obstruent devoicing is common in Dutch and was already widespread in Old Dutch, rendering vent as a variant of vend(e) possible.
• Possibly a shortening of vennoot (“partner (in a company)”), which is equivalent to a compound of veem (“(storage) company”) +‎ genoot (“companion, partner”), but there is no evidence of an overlap in senses.

vent m (plural venten, diminutive ventje n)

1. chap, fellow

• Javindo: fen, fent

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

vent

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of venten
2. imperative of venten

From Old French vent, from Latin ventus, from Proto-Italic *wentos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts < *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).

• IPA^(key): /vɑ̃/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃

vent m (plural vents)

1. atmospheric wind
2. (euphemistic) a flatulence

   Synonym: (neutral) pet

3. (uncountable) empty words, hot air

   Toutes ces promesses, c'est du vent. ― Those are empty promises.

   Synonym: paroles en l'air

• air
• courant

• “vent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Old French vent, from Latin ventus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

vent m (plural vents)

1. (Jersey, Guernsey) wind

vent

1. neuter singular of ven

vent

1. imperative of vente

• IPA^(key): /ʋɛnt/

vent

1. imperative of venta

• IPA^(key): /ʋɛnt/

vent (definite singular and plural vente)

1. past participle of venna

vent

1. neuter singular of vend

vent

1. supine of venna

• IPA^(key): /ʋeːnt/

vent

1. neuter singular of ven

From Old Occitan vent, from Latin ventus.

• Audio

  (file)

vent m (plural vents)

1. wind (movement of air)

From Latin ventus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvent/, /ˈvant/
• Rhymes: -ent

vent m (oblique plural venz or ventz, nominative singular venz or ventz, nominative plural vent)

1. wind (movement of air)
   • circa 1110, Benedeit, Le Voyage de saint Brandan:

     Un meis sanz vent nagerent tut plein

     They sailed for a whole month without wind

From vent d'aval