What is "ventile"

n. 1 (context statistics English) Any of the nineteen points that divide an ordered distribution into twenty parts, each containing one twentieth of the population. 2 (context statistics English) Any one of the twenty groups so divided.

Ventile, a registered trademark, is a high-quality woven cotton fabric first developed by scientists at the Shirley Institute in Manchester, England, originally to replace a shortage of flax that was used for fire hoses and water buckets. Its properties also found use in pilots' immersion suits.

The current manufacturers of Ventile are Stotz, a Swiss company which sells the fabric under the name EtaProof and Talbot Weaving Ltd. in Chorley, Lancashire which also weaves ventile fabric.