flatus
(ˈfleɪtəs)
Pl. flatuses.
[a. L. flātus a blowing, f. flāre to blow.]
‖ 1. A blowing, a blast; a breath, a puff of wind.
flatus vocis (the breath of the voice), a phrase used to describe the ultra-nominalist opinion attributed to Roscellinus (12th c.), that universals have no substantial or conceptual existence, but consist in nothing more than the mere sound of their names.
| 1692 Ray Dissol. World i. iii. (1693) 10 It might possibly be effected by the same Causes that Earthquakes are, viz. subterraneous Fires and Flatuses. 1706 S. Clarke Let. to Dodwell 31 You make the Soul, as being a mere Flatus, to have a more precarious subsistence even than mere Matter itself. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. iv. 64 Made by letting slip a bit of breath or flatus. |
2. Path. An accumulation or development of wind in the stomach or bowels; wind.
| 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 85 From the antipathetical concourse of which two ariseth a secret incoercible flatus. 1728 Rutty in Phil. Trans. XXXV. 563 She said nevertheless, that Flatuses would sometimes be discharged from the Pudenda. 1858 Copland Dict. Pract. Med. I. 1043 To ascertain the source of the flatus which is often formed so abundantly in the digestive canal. 1872 T. G. Thomas Dis. Women 133 That a free escape of flatus might be unobstructed. |
3. A morbid inflation or swelling. lit. and fig.
| 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 9 Blown up with a flatus of envy and vanity. 1730 Swift Vind. Ld. Carteret Wks. 1761 III. 189 An incensed political surgeon..will..lay open..the corruption of his heart, and spots and flatuses of his spleen. |
4. nonce-use. = afflatus 2.
| 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) II. 201 But this is not it, That the flatus will fit, Or make the dull Reader grow merry. |