jalousie

plural jalousies

1. architectureA component in a ventilation system.
2. Upward sloping window slats which form a blind or shutter, allowing light and air in but excluding rain and direct sun.

   Nowhere the glitter of a glass casement; Venetian blinds, jalousies, closed every window, and rooms projected in all directions to catch the luxury of a through-draft of air.

   2014, Kate Pullinger, The Last Time I Saw Jane

   2 more examples

   A small lofty room, with its window wide open, and the wooden jalousie-blinds closed, so that the dark night only showed in slight horizontal lines of black, alternating with their broad lines of stone colour.

   1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

   There were broad windows facing the sea and to the right of them a door leading on to the beach. White plastic jalousies were drawn half up the windows to cut the glare from the sand.

   1954, Ian Fleming, “The Everglades”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 126

3. A pastry with the upper side sliced before final baking to resemble a wooden slatted blind.