orifice

American  

[awr-uh-fis, or-] / ˈɔr ə fɪs, ˈɒr- /

noun

1. an opening or aperture, as of a tube or pipe; a mouthlike opening or hole; mouth; vent.

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orifice British  

/ ˈɒrɪfɪs /

noun

1. technical_term an opening or mouth into a cavity; vent; aperture

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Other Word Forms

• orificial
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of orifice

1535–45; < Middle French < Late Latin ōrificium, equivalent to Latin ōr- (stem of ōs ) mouth + -i- -i- + -fic-, combining form of facere to make, do ¹ ( see -fic) + -ium noun suffix

Explanation

An orifice is an opening or a hole, most often in the body. Your mouth is an orifice through which you eat and speak, and your nostrils are orifices through which you breathe. The word orifice is used most often to describe a natural opening in the body. Humans have multiple orifices that provide passageways in and out of the body. The word orifice can also describe an opening into any cavity, such as a hollowed out tree trunk or the vent of a heating system. A volcano has at least one orifice through which lava, ash, and hot gases spew. Caves have orifices through which water, animals, and people can enter and emerge.

Example Sentences

Correctional officers failed to use on Lopez a device known as the Body Orifice Security Scanner, or “BOSS chair,” which is designed to quickly detect metallic contraband within body cavities of inmates.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 8, 2022

These are programs with bizarre names like Back Orifice or Net Bus that can be hidden in an e-mail attachment--say, one of those animated birthday cards people seem to like e-mailing.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is a small Tumour of the Blood which happens in the place where the Operation is perform'd either by making the Orifice too small, or larger than the Capaciousness of the Vessel will admit.

From The Compleat Surgeon or, the whole Art of Surgery explain'd in a most familiar Method. by Le Clerc, Charles Gabriel

The family Paludicellid� consists of three genera which may be distinguished as follows:— I. Orifice terminal; main axis of the zoœcium vertical; zoœcia separated from one another by tubules.

From Freshwater Sponges, Hydroids & Polyzoa by Annandale, Nelson

When the Orifice has been made, and the Discharge is effected, it is to be dressed up with the Plaister Nº.

From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)