Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A place, such as a cupboard, for storing odds and ends.
- noun The opening of a furnace used in glassblowing.
- noun A vertical mine shaft or pit used for mining ore.
- noun Vulgar Slang A hole in a wall, especially in a bathroom stall or a booth, used for engaging in anonymous sexual activity.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An opening through which the interior of a furnace can be seen and reached.
- noun A place for hiding away things prized; also, a cupboard for domestic utensils, as brooms, etc.
- noun A small furnace for reheating glass.
- noun Nautical, the lazaret or lazaretto, a low space below the main-deck in the after part of a vessel where provisions and spare gear are stowed.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun mining originally, a hole in a mineshaft where an orebody is mined upwards until it breaks through the surface into the open air.
- noun slang, sexual a
hole in ascreen orwall big enough to allow anerect penis to be stuck through, made to facilitateanonymous sex with another person. - noun slang a military
trench . - noun glassblowing A
hole in the side of afurnace used to heat glass held on a metal rod - noun slang, Scotland a deep built-in
cupboard under theeaves or stairs of a house used for general storage, particularly of unrelated or unwanted items stored in some disorder - noun slang, naval in merchant and Royal Navy:
- noun An
excavation into the sea floor designed to protect thewellhead equipment installed at the surface of apetroleum well from icebergs or pack ice.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a small locker at the stern of a boat or between decks of a ship
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Originally, untidy storage place, lazaret : glory, of unknown meaning (perhaps akin to Scots glaury, muddy, from glaur, mud but later influenced by glory, honor, halo, perhaps in reference to the glow of a glassblowing furnace) + hole.]
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Examples
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reesetee commented on the word glory hole
A hole in the side of a glass furnace that is used to reheat glass being fashioned or decorated; or a separate appliance for reheating glass.
November 9, 2007
Prolagus commented on the word glory hole
And something else, as well.
May 20, 2008
whichbe commented on the word glory hole
May 20, 2008
reesetee commented on the word glory hole
Yes, yes, yes. I knew that would make an appearance at some point. *sigh*
May 20, 2008
bilby commented on the word glory hole
No peeking.
May 20, 2008
seanahan commented on the word glory hole
We now know the maximum time it takes for a comment to be made before we go straight to dirtiness. We can't even blame WordNet on this one, like we can for scarf.
May 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word glory hole
Also the name of a Juneau, Alaska, social-service organization (homeless shelter? Soup kitchen? I forget). Tourists like posing for pictures in front of its sign. In fact, it's named for a vast mining pit carved out of a mountain near town.
May 22, 2008
reesetee commented on the word glory hole
Incorporated into the logo for the Corning Museum of Glass (which, by the way, is a glorious museum).
May 5, 2011