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Recent Examples of cloaca from the Web
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Male and female birds typically have a cloaca, or vent, which is an opening to their reproductive, digestive, and urinary systems.
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The hognose snake (Heterodon platirhinos) of the eastern U.S. is famous for dangling its tongue limply from its mouth and leaking fluid out of its cloaca, its all-purpose hole.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cloaca'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of cloaca
Latin; akin to Greek klyzein to wash — more at clyster
Medical Dictionary
cloaca
playMedical Definition of cloaca
cloacae
\-ˌkē, -ˌsē\play1a: the common chamber into which the intestinal, urinary, and generative canals discharge especially in monotreme mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and elasmobranch fishesb: the terminal part of the embryonic hindgut of a mammal before it divides into rectum, bladder, and genital precursors
2: a passage in a bone leading to a cavity containing a sequestrum
Learn More about cloaca
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Spanish Central: Translation of cloaca Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about cloaca
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