Wiktionary

loophole

See also: loop hole

English

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a loophole (noun sense 1)
 
An illustration of a battlement, or crenellation.[n 1] The merlons are the upright projecting parts, and the portions in between them are the crenels or embrasures. Loopholes (noun sense 1) are present in the merlons depicted.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English loupe (“opening in a wall”) +‎ hole, from a Germanic source. By surface analysis, loop +‎ hole. Compare Medieval Latin loupa, lobia and Middle Dutch lupen (“to watch”).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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loophole (plural loopholes)

  2. (historical) A slit in a castle wall; today, any similar window for shooting a ranged weapon or letting in light.
    Synonyms: arrowslit, arrow slit, arrow-hole, balistraria, barbican
    Coordinate terms: embrasure, crenel
    • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
      […] 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
  4. (figurative) A method of escape, especially an ambiguity or exception in a rule or law that can be exploited in order to avoid its effect.
    • 1838, Charles Dickens, chapter 49, in Oliver Twist, page 236:
      Coupling the poor girl's intelligence with my previous knowledge, and the result of our good friend's inquiries on the spot, I left him no loophole of escape, and laid bare the whole villany which by these lights became plain as day.
    • 2002, Marc Lawrence, Two Weeks Notice (motion picture):
      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.
    • 2008 September 9, Jim Hightower, “Breaking the Lobbyists' Stranglehold on Our Democracy”, in Creators‎[1], archived from the original on 26 February 2025:
      Behind the scenes, the system had quietly punched a neat loophole into the ballyhooed reform.
    • 2013 February 9, Barack Obama, The Support They Need:
      They would rather ask more from the vast majority of Americans and put our recovery at risk than close even a single tax loophole that benefits the wealthy.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Verb

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loophole (third-person singular simple present loopholes, present participle loopholing, simple past and past participle loopholed)

  1. (military, transitive) To prepare a building for defense by preparing slits or holes through which to fire on attackers
    • 1896, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Exploits Of Brigadier Gerard‎[2]:
      The lower windows were barricaded, and the whole building loopholed for musketry fire.
    • 1907, A. E. W. Mason, The Broken Road‎[3]:
      The doors were barricaded, the shutters closed upon the windows and loopholed, and provisions were brought in from the outhouses.
    • 1915, W. H. L. Watson, Adventures of a Despatch Rider‎[4]:
      The Germans were loopholing it for defence.
  2. (transitive) To exploit (a law, etc.) by means of loopholes.
    • 1988, Macabee Dean, The Ashmadai Solution: A Surrealistic Extrapolation of a Gentle Genocide:
      Abroad they had developed loopholing the law into an art; in Israel they jettisoned loopholing for ignoring the law wherever possible. Obeying laws was for naive fools.
    • 2005, Deborah Rhode, David Luban, Legal Ethics Stories:
      De-moralizing the subject can be, quite simply, demoralizing, as stirring statements of ideals turn into persnickety rules with exceptions crying out to be loopholed.

References

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  1. ^ From Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1858), “CRÉNEAU”, in Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle [Systematic Dictionary of French Architecture from the 9th to 16th Centuries], volumes IV (Construction–Cyborium), Paris: B. Bance, […], →OCLC, figure 15, page 387.

Further reading

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “loophole”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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