Definition of "ventage"

ventage

noun
countable and uncountable, plural ventages
1. (countable) A puff of air coming through a hole in a wind instrument.
  Quotations
  Govern these ventages withyour fingers and thumb, give it breath with yourmouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music.
  c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]
2. Venting (the act by which something is vented)
  Quotations
  In some Madras examples which have been successful, the ventage in the under-sluices is about the same as that in the head-sluices above them.
  1893, Robert Burton Buckley, Irrigation Works in India and Egypt, page 164
  The most important factor in casting solid, close-grained slugs suitable for withstanding pressure in direct printing is efficient ventage of air from the mold each time a slug is cast.
  1943, The intertype