outlet
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
outlet
n 1: a place of business for retailing goods [syn: {mercantile
establishment}, {retail store}, {sales outlet}, {outlet}]
2: receptacle providing a place in a wiring system where current
can be taken to run electrical devices [syn: {wall socket},
{wall plug}, {electric outlet}, {electrical outlet},
{outlet}, {electric receptacle}]
3: an opening that permits escape or release; "he blocked the
way out"; "the canyon had only one issue" [syn: {exit},
{issue}, {outlet}, {way out}]
4: activity that frees or expresses creative energy or emotion;
"she had no other outlet for her feelings"; "he gave vent to
his anger" [syn: {release}, {outlet}, {vent}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Socket \Sock"et\, n. [OE. soket, a dim. through OF. fr. L.
soccus. See {Sock} a covering for the foot.]
1. An opening into which anything is fitted; any hollow thing
or place which receives and holds something else; as, the
sockets of the teeth.
[1913 Webster]
His eyeballs in their hollow sockets sink. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
2. Especially, the hollow tube or place in which a candle is
fixed in the candlestick.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Electricity) the receptacle of an electric lamp into
which a light bulb is inserted, containing contacts to
conduct electricity to the bulb.
[PJC]
4. (Electricity) the receptacle fixed in a wall and connected
by conductive wiring to an electrical supply, containing
contacts to conduct electricity, and into which the plug
of an electrical device is inserted; -- called also a
{wall socket} or {outlet}. The socket will typically have
two or three contacts; if three, the third is connected to
a ground for safety.
[PJC]
And in the sockets oily bubbles dance. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
{Socket bolt} (Mach.), a bolt that passes through a thimble
that is placed between the parts connected by the bolt.
{Socket chisel}. Same as {Framing chisel}. See under
{Framing}.
{Socket pipe}, a pipe with an expansion at one end to receive
the end of a connecting pipe.
{Socket pole}, a pole armed with iron fixed on by means of a
socket, and used to propel boats, etc. [U.S.]
{Socket wrench}, a wrench consisting of a socket at the end
of a shank or rod, for turning a nut, bolthead, etc., in a
narrow or deep recess.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
146 Moby Thesaurus words for "outlet":
abreaction, access, acting-out, aisle, alley, ambulatory, aperture,
arcade, artery, avenue, bill of sale, blowhole, break, breakout,
broaching, catharsis, cavity, channel, chasm, check, chute,
clearing, cleft, cloister, colonnade, communication, conduit,
connection, corridor, covered way, crack, debouch, defile,
deliverance, delivery, demand, discharge, disclosure, door, egress,
emergence, emotional release, emunctory, escape, escape hatch,
escapism, estuary, evasion, exhaust, exit, extrication, fenestra,
ferry, fistula, flight, floodgate, flume, fontanel, foramen, ford,
freeing, gallery, gap, gape, gat, getaway, gulf, hiatus, hole,
hollow, inlet, interchange, intersection, interval, issuance,
issue, jailbreak, junction, lacuna, lane, laying open, leak,
leakage, liberation, loophole, market, mass market,
motor abreaction, opening, opening up, orifice, out, outcome,
outfall, outgate, outgo, overpass, pass, passage, passageway, pore,
port, portico, prisonbreak, psychocatharsis, psychodrama,
purgation, railroad tunnel, release, release therapy, relief,
rescue, retail, retailer, riddance, sale, sally port, setting-free,
shop, showroom, slot, sluice, space, spiracle, split, spout, stoma,
store, tap, throwing open, tie-in, traject, trajet, tunnel,
turnover, uncorking, underpass, unstopping, vent, ventage,
venthole, vomitory, way out, weir, wholesale, yawn
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