cloaca

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloāca (“sewer”), from cluō (“cleanse; purge”).

noun

1. (sometimes figurative) A sewer.
   The Thames, polluted with the filthy effusions of the cloacae. 1773, Gentleman's Magazine, number 43, page 598
   1850, Thomas Carlyle, chapter IV, in Latter-day Pamphlets, page 46:
   […] that tremendous cloaca of Pauperism […]
   After working an hour, I began to speculate on the distance one had to go before the cloaca was reached the chances we had of missing it altogether. 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 266
2. (zoology) The duct in reptiles, amphibians and birds, as well as most fish and some mammals, which serves as the common outlet for urination, defecation, and reproduction.
   In birds the rectum, at the termination of its canal, forms an oval or elongated pouch […] and then expands into a cavity, which has been named cloaca. 1822, John Mason Good, The Study of Medicine, volume I, page 7
3. An outhouse or lavatory.
   To every house […] a cloaca. 1840, Frederick Marryat, chapter XXIV, in Olla Podrida
   Only think of that cloaca being supplied daily with such dainty bibliographical treasures! 1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 55
4. (anatomy) A duct through which gangrenous material escapes a body.
   Across this shell [[Unsupported titles/`lsqb`sc.#English|[sc.]] of bone] small holes are eaten, by which the matter escapes, and which are called cloacae (Weidmann). 1846, Joseph François Malgaigne, translated by Frederick Brittan, Manual of Operative Surgery, page 172