ventilate

present singular third person ventilates · participle present ventilating · participle past ventilated · past ventilated

1. To replace stale or noxious air with fresh.
2. To circulate air through a building, etc.
3. To provide with a vent.
4. To expose something to the circulation of fresh air.
5. To expose something to public examination or discussion.

   "Well, I did my best. I had no hopes, and it has worked out as I thought. It is a pure waste of time." "Not at all," Malone answered. "It has ventilated an evil. There were reporters in court. Surely some of them have some sense. They will note the injustice."

   1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

   1 more example

   The WR has dropped its plan to close Yeovil Junction station. As we predicted on page 376 of the June issue, there has been strong opposition to the suggestion and on July 10 local opinion ventilated its case at a Yeovil Town Hall meeting attended by Mr. G. F. Fiennes, General Manager of the WR.

   1964 September, “News: Yeovil Junction not to be closed”, in Modern Railways, page 202

6. transitivemedicineTo provide manual or mechanical breathing to (a patient).
7. intransitivemedicineTo breathe.

   Patients with cervical injuries usually arrive in the intensive care unit (ICU) already intubated. However, with some high thoracic or low cervical lesions, patients who ventilate independently in the emergency department may arrive in the ICU without assisted ventilation.

   2016, Marianne Saunorus Baird, Manual of Critical Care Nursing: Nursing Interventions and Collaborative Management, 7th edition, St. Louis, MO: Elsevier, →ISBN, page 302

   Synonyms: breathe, draw breath, inbreathe, spire, suspire

8. slangtransitiveTo shoot with a firearm; to pierce with bullets.

   If we went in and there was no burglar, and we got into a shooting with the homeowner and ventilated him, that would be a little difficult to explain.

   2010, Michael Miller, Deep Nights

9. slangtransitiveTo stab (a person).

   What I learned on the bus that night was that I didn't want to be "ventilated" (stabbed), raped by one of the "Cheetos" (gay men), or beaten to a pulp […]

   2020, James Arthur Ray, The Business of Redemption