orifice
nounUK /ˈɒɹɪfɪs/ · US /ˈɔɹəfɪs/
Etymology From Middle French, from Old French, from Late Latin ōrificium (“an opening, literally the making of a mouth”), compound of ōs (“mouth”) + faciō (“to make”).
1
A mouth or aperture, such as of a tube, pipe, etc.; an opening.
- the orifice of an artery or vein; the orifice of a wound; he entered the cave's gaping orifice
- As none of the ovicells were observed to be closed by the operculum, presumably because they were empty and the opercula were resting on the primary orifice rim, the ovicell closure type is subcleithral rather than cleithral [51 ], at least in some species of the genus.2015 October 22, “Diversity and Systematics of Schizomavella Species (Bryozoa: Bitectiporidae) from the Bathyal NE Atlantic”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:
2
One of the natural external openings of the human or animal body.
- the vagina and other orifices
- The maw-worm could emerge unexpectedly from any orifice, including, most alarmingly, the corner of people's eyes.1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 121:
1 more example
- For example, cultures that scorn open orifices of all kinds despise uninfibulated female genitals too[…]2004, Diana T. Meyers, Being Yourself: Essays on Identity, Action, and Social Life, page 86:
3
Derogatory, Slang A stupid or objectionable person.
- “Peanuts aren't nuts, you orifice. They're legumes.”2016, Niels Saunders, Mervyn Vs. Dennis:
- Derived terms
- external urethral orifice, orifical, orificed, orificial