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Glite Dictionary
🦜 Animal waste cavity 🚽 A sewer pipe
cloaca

cloaca

1 9.9
A large underground pipe that carries waste and rain away
  • noun
  • /kloʊˈeɪkə/
  • Archaic
translation icon : cloaca
  • In historical times, a cloaca was essential for managing sewage and preventing flooding in urban environments.
  • Cloaca Maxima

Examples

  • Take the cloaca, for example.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The ancient Romans built the Cloaca Maxima to effectively drain water and waste from their city.

  • As part of the archaeological excavation, workers uncovered the remains of a cloaca that once served as a major sewer for the area.

Synonyms

sewer
vscloaca
209 1.9

An underground pipe that carries away dirty water and waste

is the older term used also for surface water conduits in history

Surface Forms

cloaca singular
cloacae plural

Etymology

Cloaca comes from Latin cloaca, which meant 'sewer' or 'drain' and even named the great Roman sewer called the Cloaca Maxima. So cloaca can mean a waste pipe or old-style drain.