Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A hole, usually with a cover, through which a person may enter a sewer, boiler, drain, or similar structure.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To enter or use a manhole, as for the purpose of examining or repairing machinery.
- noun A hole through which a man may enter a sewer, drain, cesspool, or the like, for cleaning or repairing; in steam-boilers, hot-water tanks, keirs, etc., a hole formed in the shell, through which a man may enter to the interior for cleaning, inspection, or repairs.
- noun In coal-mining: An excavation or refuge-hole made in the side of an underground engine-plane or horse-road. [Eng.] A small and generally short passage used for the ingress and egress of the miners. [Pennsylvania anthracite, region.] A niche cut in the side of a railroad-tunnel as a refuge-hole.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A hole through which a man may descend or creep into a drain, sewer, steam boiler, parts of machinery, etc., for cleaning or repairing.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A hole in the ground used to access the
sewers or other undergroundvaults andinstallations .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a hole (usually with a flush cover) through which a person can gain access to an underground structure
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Likewise, I am not convinced that manhole is better off as personhole.
Why do so many people hate gender-neutral words? (Oh, s—!) « Motivated Grammar 2010
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Smoke machines and loudspeakers, carefully hidden in manhole covers throughout Manhattan, completed the breathtakingly convincing display.
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Smoke machines and loudspeakers, carefully hidden in manhole covers throughout Manhattan, completed the breathtakingly convincing display.
Archive 2007-02-01 2007
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So manhole is more acceptable to me than spokesman because manholes aren’t people.
Why do so many people hate gender-neutral words? (Oh, s—!) « Motivated Grammar 2010
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The manhole was a hundred and twenty feet east of the southern curb of Fuller in the center of the street—hence the designation “120´ESC-CENT”—just opposite the bronze statue of John G. Fuller, the noted balloonist.
Eight Black Horses Ed McBain 1985
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A: A manhole is a vertical pipe that runs from an underground utility main to the surface to give workers access for maintenance.
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He recalled a manhole explosion where a police detail saved the life of a 23-year-old trapped worker.
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The manhole was the mouth of a long tube that led down to hell, and there were other demons like him there.
Tools of Renewal 2008
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Just as discrimination is more than a change in vocabulary and the futility of wondering whether we should change "manhole" to...er..."personhole"?
Archive 2009-10-01 Glenda Larke 2009
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Just as discrimination is more than a change in vocabulary and the futility of wondering whether we should change "manhole" to...er..."personhole"?
Let's be politically correct, right? Glenda Larke 2009
Comments
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