Dictionary

ventage en · NOUN

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 *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin -āticus Latin -āticum Old French -agebor. Middle English -age English -age English ventage From vent + -age.

Meanings

1. (countable) A puff of air coming through a hole in a wind instrument.
   • Govern these ventages with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. 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]:
2. (countable, uncountable) Venting (the act by which something is vented)
   • 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. 1893, Robert Burton Buckley, Irrigation Works in India and Egypt, page 164:
   • 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. 1943, The intertype:

Forms