cloaca

English - English

Definition of cloaca in English English dictionary

A sewer

The common duct in fish, reptiles, birds and some primitive mammals that serves as the anus as well as the genital opening

A privy

a waste pipe that carries away sewage or surface water

{i} sewer; cavity which holds excrement (Zoology)

In vertebrates, common chamber and outlet into which the intestinal, urinary, and genital tracts open. It is present in amphibians, reptiles, birds, some fishes (e.g., sharks), and monotreme mammals but is absent in placental mammals and most bony fishes. Certain animals (e.g., many reptiles and some birds, including ducks) have an accessory organ (penis) within the cloaca that is used to direct the sperm into the female's cloaca. Most birds mate by joining their cloacas in a "cloacal kiss"; muscular contractions transfer the sperm from the male to the female

A sewer; as, the Cloaca Maxima of Rome

The common chamber into which the intestinal, urinary, and generative canals discharge in birds, reptiles, amphibians, and many fishes

Related Terms

cloacae

plural of cloaca

Hyphenation

clo·a·ca

Synonyms

vent

Etymology

[ klO-'A-k& ] (noun.) 1599. Latin cloaca (“sewer”), from cluere (“to cleanse”).