airhole

air +‎ hole

airhole (plural airholes)

1. A hole provided for ventilation or breathing.
   • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, Jess‎:

     "This wall is badly built," he went on in a careless tone; "look, there is another space there at the back;" and he actually came up to it and held the lantern close to the airhole in such fashion that its light shone through into Jess's eyes and nearly blinded her.

   • 1914, Morris Hicky Morgan, Ten Books on Architecture‎:

     For if they touch one another, and so do not leave airholes and admit draughts of air to blow between them, they get heated and soon begin to rot.

   • 1995 July 14, Albert Williams, “Words First”, in Chicago Reader‎:

     The youngest son, Vardaman, is unable to cope with Addie's death and drills airholes in her coffin (and accidentally into her head) and insistently declares, "My mother is a fish"--like the big one he recently caught and gutted.

2. A hole in ice through which air escapes.
   • 1901, Jack London, The God of His Fathers‎:

     Through these and through countless airholes, the water began to sweep across the surface of the ice, and by the time he pulled into a woodchopper's cabin on the point of an island, the dogs were being rushed off their feet and were swimming more often than not.

   • 1914, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys in Alaska‎:

     "Even if it is hard enough, there may be airholes around."