ventilate

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English, borrowed from Latin ventilātus, past participle of ventilō.

PronunciationEdit

Audio (AU) (file)

VerbEdit

ventilate (third-person singular simple present ventilates, present participle ventilating, simple past and past participle ventilated)

To replace stale or noxious air with fresh.
To circulate air through a building, etc.
To provide with a vent.
To expose something to the circulation of fresh air.
To expose something to public examination or discussion.
- 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
  "Well, I did my best. I had no hopes, and it has worked out as I thought. It is a pure waste of time." "Not at all," Malone answered. "It has ventilated an evil. There were reporters in court. Surely some of them have some sense. They will note the injustice."
- 1964 September, “News: Yeovil Junction not to be closed”, in Modern Railways, page 202:
  The WR has dropped its plan to close Yeovil Junction station. As we predicted on page 376 of the June issue, there has been strong opposition to the suggestion and on July 10 local opinion ventilated its case at a Yeovil Town Hall meeting attended by Mr. G. F. Fiennes, General Manager of the WR.
(medicine) To provide manual or mechanical breathing to a patient.
(slang) To shoot with a firearm; to pierce with bullets.
- 2010, Michael Miller, Deep Nights:
  If we went in and there was no burglar, and we got into a shooting with the homeowner and ventilated him, that would be a little difficult to explain.