ventage

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English vent

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos

Proto-Italic *-ātos

Latin -ātus

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Indo-European *-ikos

Proto-Italic *-ikos

Latin -icus

Latin -āticus

Latin -āticum

Old French -agebor.

Middle English -age

English -age

English ventage

From vent + -age.

Noun

ventage (countable and uncountable, plural ventages)

1. (countable) A puff of air coming through a hole in a wind instrument.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Govern these ventages with
     your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your
     mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music.

2. Venting (the act by which something is vented)
   • 1893, Robert Burton Buckley, Irrigation Works in India and Egypt, page 164:

     In some Madras examples which have been successful, the ventage in the under-sluices is about the same as that in the head-sluices above them.

   • 1943, The intertype:

     The most important factor in casting solid, close-grained slugs suitable for withstanding pressure in direct printing is efficient ventage of air from the mold each time a slug is cast.

Anagrams

• vegetan