dream-hole
/ˈdriːmˌhəʊl/Chiefly English regional (Gloucestershire and Yorkshire )
noun
A slit or opening in an external wall of a building.
- Apparently intended for the admission of light and air, or for defensive purposes, though N.E.D. (1897) notes: ‘Supposed (by modern archaeologists) to have been originally applied to the holes in church-towers and belfries by which the sound passed out’..
Origin
Mid 16th century; earliest use found in Churchwardens' Accounts Minchinhampton. Origin uncertain; apparently from dream + hole, on account of the sound of the bells passing through such holes in a church steeple.
- downstater
- downstream
- downstroke
- downsun
- downswing
- Down syndrome
- down-talk
- downtempo
- down the hatch
- down-the-line
- down the middle
- down the road
- downthrow
- downtick
- down timber
- downtime
- down to earth
- down-to-earthness
- down tools
- down to the ground
- (down) to the last (or final, smallest, etc.) detail
- pyemia
- pyeste egg
- pyet
- PYG