Loophole

Noun

 * 1) A method of escape, especially an ambiguity or exception in a rule that can be exploited in order to avoid its effect.
 * 2) *1839, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist:
 * I left him no loophole of escape, and laid bare the whole villainy which by these lights became plain as day.
 * 1) *2002, Two Weeks Notice (movie):
 * You have a contract that says you will work until Island Towers is finalized, which I interpret as completion of construction, or I can stop you working elsewhere. And there's no loopholes, because you drafted it and you're the best.
 * 1) A slit in a castle wall. Later: any similar window for shooting a weapon or letting in light.
 * 2) *1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe:
 * ... and having a fair loophole, as it were, from a broken hole in the tree, he took a sure aim, without being seen, waiting till they were within about thirty yards of the tree, so that he could not miss.
 * 1) *1809, Maria Edgeworth, The Absentee:
 * There was a loophole in this wall, to let the light in, just at the height of a person's head, who was sitting near the chimney.
 * 1) *1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, page 25:
 * The sun had shifted round, and the myriad windows of the Ministry of Truth, with the light no longer shining on them, looked grim as the loopholes of a fortress.

Verb

 * 1)  To prepare a building for defense by preparing slits or holes through which to fire on attackers

Thesaurus
Texas tower, abatis, advanced work, air hole, alternative, armhole, avenue, balistraria, bank, banquette, barbed-wire entanglement, barbican, barricade, barrier, bartizan, bastion, battlement, beacon, belvedere, bleachers, blowhole, breastwork, bridge, bullet-hole, bulwark, bunghole, casemate, channel, cheval-de-frise, choice, chute, circumvallation, conning tower, contravallation, counterscarp, cringle, curtain, deadeye, debouch, demibastion, dike, dodge, door, drawbridge, earthwork, egress, emunctory, enclosure, entanglement, escape, escape clause, escape hatch, escarp, escarpment, estuary, evasion, exhaust, exit, eye, eyelet, fence, fieldwork, floodgate, flume, fortalice, fortification, gallery, gasket, gazebo, glacis, grandstand, grommet, guide, keyhole, knothole, lighthouse, lookout, loop, lunette, machicolation, manhole, mantelet, merlon, mound, mousehole, observation post, observatory, opening, out, outcome, outfall, outgate, outgo, outlet, outlook, outwork, overlook, palisade, parados, parapet, peanut gallery, peephole, pharos, pigeonhole, pinhole, placket, placket hole, pore, port, portcullis, porthole, postern gate, pretext, punch-hole, quibble, rampart, ravelin, redan, redoubt, ringside, ringside seat, sally port, saving clause, scarp, sconce, sighthole, sluice, spiracle, spout, stockade, subterfuge, tap, tenaille, top gallery, tower, vallation, vallum, vent, ventage, venthole, vomitory, watchtower, way of escape, way out, weir, work

Noun

 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 漏洞
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * German: Ausflucht, Hintertürchen
 * Hebrew: פרצה
 * Italian: ,


 * Japanese: 抜け道
 * Norwegian: smutthull
 * Portuguese:
 * Russian: ,
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:


 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 槍眼, 枪眼
 * Finnish: ampuma-aukko
 * French:
 * German:
 * Italian:


 * Japanese: 銃眼
 * Norwegian: skyteskår
 * Portuguese:
 * Russian: ,
 * Swedish: skottglugg