Also 5 ventilatte, 6 -tylate, 7 -tulate, -tillate. [f. L. ventilāt-, ppl. stem of ventilāre to brandish, fan, winnow, agitate (whence It. ventilare, Prov., Sp., Pg. ventilar, F. ventiler), f. vent-us wind. Cf. EVENTILATE v.]
I. † 1. trans. Of wind: To blow away (something); to scatter. Obs.–1
a. 1440. Found. St. Bartholomew’s (E.E.T.S.), 8. Of .iiii. wyndys, remembrith Zacharie seiynge,… ‘these ben the hornnys that shall blowe and ventilatte [L. ventilaverunt] Iude, Israel, and Ierusalem.’
2. To fan or winnow (corn, etc.). Also in fig. context.
1609. [Bp. W. Barlow], Answ. Nameless Cath., 323. Yet is it not the peeuish … tongue of Father Parsons, that must Ventilate the Corne of this Floore, to trie whether I bee chaffe or wheate.
1623. in Cockeram, I.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, V. 594. As flies the chaff … O’er all the consecrated floor, what time Ripe Ceres with brisk airs her golden grain Ventilates.
1846. Landor, Imag. Conv., Wks. I. 226. It is required … not merely that we place the grain in a garner, but that we ventilate and sift it; that we separate the full from the empty.
† 3. To increase (a fire or flame) by blowing or fanning. Chiefly fig. or in fig. context. Obs.
1613. Jackson, Creed, I. 144. They blow the fire which it had kindled, ventilating and inlarging the deuouring flame.
1648. Sparke, Pref. Shute’s Sarah & Hagar, b j b. Pouring out the water of his tears upon our common Flames, which others ventilated.
1691. Norris, Pract. Disc. (1707), IV. 21. So will Devotion [languish] if it have not vent by good Discourse, which fans and ventilates its Holy Fire.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., II. 478. Speech ventilates our intellectual fire.
† 4. To put or set (air) in motion; to move or agitate; to renew or freshen in this way. Obs.
1635. Valentine, Foure Sea-Serm., 41. If a man have a fan in his hand he may ventilate and agitate the still ayre into a winde.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., III. 180. To keep constant fires under-ground to purifie and ventilate the Ayr.
1710. J. B., Let. to Sacheverell, 4. You … seem to fight Blindfold,… and by thus ventilating and beating the Air,… expose your own Persons.
1775. Sir E. Barry, Observ. Wines, 403. Putrid exhalations in low marshy ground … where the air is not ventilated.
5. a. To expose (blood) to the chemical action of the air; to aerate, oxygenate.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., 377. The blood is yet more ventilated if it be speedily moved.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v., When the Bloud is ventilated and purged from oppressing Vapours.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., Lungs ventilate the blood.
b. To expose (substances, etc.) to fresh air so as to keep in, or restore to, good condition.
1755. Hales, in Phil. Trans., XLIX. 344. I ventilated three gallons of stinking Jessops-well purging water.
1763. Mills, Pract. Husb., III. 123. This corn … was not ventilated more than six days in a year.
1771. A. Young, Farmer’s Tour East Eng., I. 345. The cows gave vast quantities of milk,… but it was very strong, though ventilated.
1846. Landor, Imag. Conv., Wks. II. 86/1. Thy carcase did not even receive a fly-blow…. Thy guardian angel … could not ventilate thee better.
1855. Poultry Chron., III. 449. The wheat should be kept cool, well ventilated, and frequently moved.
6. Of air: To blow upon, to pass over or circulate through, so as to purify or freshen.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, IV. (1723), 229. The Air, which ventilates and cools the Mines.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 426. That air and sun, Admitted freely, may … ventilate and warm the swelling buds.
1810. Sir A. Boswell, Edinburgh, in Chambers, Sc. Poems (1862), 166. Sweeping breezes ventilate each street.
1835. Mrs. Somerville, Connex. Phys. Sci. (ed. 2), xxv. 267. Neither can the warmth of mines be attributed to the condensation of the currents of air which ventilate them.
1869. J. Phillips, Vesuv., ii. 37. Strabo describes it as ventilated by the south-west wind.
fig. 1760. Goldsm., Ess., No. 15. Opposition, when restrained within due bounds, is the salubrious gale that ventilates the opinions of the people.
1795. Burke, Let. W. Smith, Wks. 1812, IX. 403. The divisions, which formerly prevailed in the Church,… only purified and ventilated our common faith.
b. Of a fan: To cool by producing a current of air.
1805–6. Cary, Dante, Inf., XV. 39. Whoever … One instant stops, lies then a hundred years, No fan to ventilate him, when the fire Smites sorest.
7. To supply (a room, building, mine, etc.) with fresh air in place of that which is vitiated, exhausted or stagnant; to produce a free current of air in (some enclosed space) so as to maintain a fresh supply. Cf. VENTILATOR 1.
1758. S. Hales, Descr. Ventilators, II. 39. When the Wards of the lower Floors are to be ventilated.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 639/1. The order for ventilating the fleet issued by the lords of the admiralty in 1756.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 217. The great object in ventilating houses which are kept at a high temperature is to avoid thorough-draughts.
1854. Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol. (ed. 2), I. 251. The House of Commons … has been warmed and ventilated under the superintendence … of Dr. Reid.
1888. Miss Braddon, Fatal Three, I. v. How to ventilate and purify his cottages.
absol. 1845. Encycl. Metrop., XXV. 1054. About the year 1741, Dr. Hales introduced a method of ventilating by bellows.
1854. Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol. (ed. 2), I. 244. A very admirable system of heating and ventilating by hot water.
8. † a. = BREATHE v. 16. Obs.–0
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v., To ventilate a vein, i.e., to breath or open it.
b. To provide (a mold, etc.) with a vent or vents to allow the escape of air or gas.
1895. in Funk’s Stand. Dict.
† 9. intr. To get rid of exhalations. Obs.–1
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 39. The Lamps always burning, are by open Funnels above suffered to ventilate.
II. 10. trans. To examine or investigate (a question, topic, etc.) freely or thoroughly by discussion or debate; to sift or discuss in free argument, controversy or examination; to bring to public notice or consideration in this way.
Freq. c. 1620–c. 1680, and from c. 1850.
1527. in Fiddes, Wolsey (1726), II. 172. This cawse of matrymonie myght no where be ventylated or dyscussed.
1597. J. King, On Jonas (1618), 225. There was no Father in the Church who had greater reason to ventilate this argument vnto the bottome.
1622. Donne, Serm., Wks. 1839, VI. 213. Some Articles concerning the falling away from justifying grace … had been ventilated in Conventicles.
1657. Heylin, Ecclesia Vind., 95. The point had been somewhat ventulated betwixt the honourable Remonstrant on the one part, and the Smectymnians on the other.
1674. Grew, Lect., in Anat. Pl. (1682), 222. The experience of so many years, wherein it hath been ventilated by the disputes of men, proveth as much.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 151. Nor is the Right of the Party … so far perempted, but that the same may be … ventilated de Novo.
1759. Hurd, Mor. & Pol. Dial. (1760), 97. Questions of natural science will doubtless be effectually … ventilated in the new society.
1784. in Boswell, Johnson, 27 June. He is … not enough known: his character has been only ventilated in party pamphlets.
1846. W. H. Mill, Five Serm. (1848), 52. We have discussed and ventilated all points.
1857. Fraser’s Mag., LVI. 351. Politicians do not ‘discuss’ subjects in the year of grace 1857: they ‘ventilate’ them.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Organ., 2. The subject has not been sufficiently ventilated.
1870. Beaconsfield, Sel. Sp. (1882), II. 325. Those friends who were, to use a barbarous expression, ‘ventilating’ the question.
11. To publish abroad; to make public. rare.
1530. Palsgr., 765/2. He is nat worthy to be a counsaylour that ventylateth the maters abrode.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1826), II. 65. Such a step … would have been loudly ventilated abroad as a plain declaration that popery was to govern.
1837. Landor, Pentameron, V. Wks. 1853, II. 346/1. Deeming it better, when irregular thoughts assailed me, to ventilate them abroad.
12. To utter: to give utterance or expression to (an opinion, view, etc.); to make known to others.
1637. Gillespie, Eng. Pop. Cerem., II. ix. 44. Why then doeth he ventilate words for reason?
1855. F. Stephen, in Cambr. Ess., 183. The habit … of using novels to ventilate opinions.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., iv. There were already several things in his head which he was anxious to ventilate.
1872. E. W. Robertson, Hist. Ess., 219. An angry Kentish landholder … might have ventilated his grievances upon Pennenden Heath.
1883. Jrnl. Education, XVII. 264. To rush into print and ‘ventilate his views.’
transf. 1856. Sat. Rev., 2 Feb., 241/2. Although it is necessary for Lord Derby … to ventilate his oratory, Parliament and the country are ready for peace.
1870. W. R. Greg, Polit. Problems, 198. It reflects and ventilates the national conceptions.
b. To give vent to, provide outlet or escape for (passion, etc.).
1823. Lamb, Lett., xiii. 128. He is welcome to them … if they can divert a spleen or ventilate a fit of sullenness.
† 13. To carry on, take part in (a controversy).
1607. R. C[arew], trans. Estienne’s World Wond., 275. There was neuer yet controuersie in Christian religion so … virulently canuased and ventilated.
1678. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, IV. Pref. Strangius … has ventilated this controversy with … force of argument beyond his sectators.
† 14. To estimate the value of; to appraise. Obs.
Directly from F. ventiler: cf. EVALUATE v. b.
1682. Warburton, Hist. Guernsey (1822), 82. [To] see his goods … ventilated, i. e. appraised and sold for discharge of the debt.
Hence Ventilating ppl. a.
1817. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., II. 196. Approach your hand to a ventilating bee, and you will find that she causes a very perceptible motion in the air.
c. 1853–4. Tomlinson’s Cycl. Arts, etc. (1866), II. 836/1. Throttle-valves … by which the rate of the ventilating current can be increased or diminished.
