Crossword clues for spiracle
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Spiracle \Spir"a*cle\, n.[L. spiraculum, fr. spirare to breathe: cf. F. spiracule. See Spirit.]
(Anat.) The nostril, or one of the nostrils, of whales, porpoises, and allied animals.
(Zo["o]l.) (a) One of the external openings communicating with the air tubes or trache[ae] of insects, myriapods, and arachnids. They are variable in number, and are usually situated on the sides of the thorax and abdomen, a pair to a segment. These openings are usually elliptical, and capable of being closed. See Illust. under Coleoptera. (a) A tubular orifice communicating with the gill cavity of certain ganoid and all elasmobranch fishes. It is the modified first gill cleft.
Any small aperture or vent for air or other fluid.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"air hole," 1610s, from Latin spiraculum "breathing hole," from spirare "to breathe" (see spirit (n.)). Related: Spiracular.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A pore or opening used (especially by spiders and some fish) for breathing. 2 The blowhole of a whale, dolphin or other similar species. 3 Any small aperture or vent for air or other fluid.
WordNet
n. a breathing orifice
Wikipedia
Spiracles ( or ) are openings on the surface of some animals, which usually lead to respiratory systems.
Usage examples of "spiracle".
There were thin long-wire VLF antennas, conical electronic-countermeasure antennas, spiracle antennas, a microwave antenna on the bow, and whip antennas that extended thirty-five feet.
These are thick-bodied sinuous creatures distinguished by the curious conformation of the mouth and by a lateral row of dots that may represent the metameric spiracles or, as commonly, a demarcation between dorsal and ventral surfaces.
Thirdly, around this infernal sea a vast spherical arch will hang, a thousand miles thick, a massive and unbroken shell, through which there are no spiracles, and whose external surface, beautiful beyond conception, becomes the heaven of the redeemed, where Christ himself, perfect man as well as perfect God, fixes his residence and establishes the local sovereignty of the Universal Archangel.
If you stand on its summit and look at these two f-shaped spout-holes, you would take the whole head for an enormous bass viol, and these spiracles, the apertures in its soundingboard.
Saw-toothed waves of lava vexed the surface of this weird ocean, while on either hand arose jagged crests and spiracles of fantastic shape.
An abdomen with hissing spiracles eclipsed the light, and then the bug was gone.
As the air shrilled through the spiracles on its sides, as its eyes seemed to bulge from the immobile plating on its round head, it struggled to control the emotion that hurried disintegration nearer.
Their breathing echoed in the heavy air, shrilling through the spiracles along their sides.
Fastening my mandibles firmly, I blow the air out my spiracles with a mighty blast that bubbles up around Enerous and Tenebrey, making them giggle.
Hands grasp, pedipalpi quiver, spiracles ripple, pincers snap like scissors, and other ill-defined extrusions appear and at once vanish in a roiling tumult of glistening carapaces that melt into whipping tails, in snarls of coarse hair that smooth into scaly flanks, expressing a biological chaos that makes Curtis's confusion in the twins' bathroom seem, by comparison, merely an amusing faux pas.
And all the while, jet after jet of white smoke was agonisingly shot from the spiracle of the whale, and vehement puff after puff from the mouth of the excited headsman.
And all the while, jet after jet of white smoke was agonizingly shot from the spiracle of the whale, and vehement puff after puff from the mouth of the excited headsman.