Ventuse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The sixth month of the French Republican calendar, a windy period falling roughly from late February to late March
2. A month in the revolutionary French calendar, named for wind, that corresponded to late winter into early spring
3. Name given to the sixth month of the year-long French Republican calendar, spanning about February 19 to March 20

Etymology: Ventuse is an older spelling of "ventouse," a word that has meant both a cupping glass and a device for delivering babies. The word was borrowed into Middle English, probably from Anglo-Norman "ventuse," with its roots in Latin "ventosa," meaning "windy" or "full of wind," from "ventus," "wind." The link to wind makes sense once you recall the older medical view that air or vapour trapped in the body caused many ailments, so a cup that drew air out of the skin seemed to pull out the wind itself. The sense of drawing something out by suction carried over into obstetrics. A ventouse delivery uses a cup fixed to the baby's head by suction to help guide it out of the birth canal, a method that developed from the same idea of pulling by vacuum. The word's older spellings, including "ventuse," remain attested in English, though the modern standard spelling is "ventouse."