cloāca, ae, f. 1. cluo = purgo; cf. Gr. κλύζω, an artificial canal in Rome, constructed by Tarquinius Priscus, by which the filth was carried from the streets into the Tiber; in gen., a sewer, drain, Cic. Sest. 35, 77; id. Caecin. 13, 36; Hor. S. 2, 3, 242 al.; cf. Liv. 1, 38, 6; 1, 56, 2; 5, 55, 5; Plin. 36, 15, 24, § 104 sq.; Cassiod. Var. 3, 30; Dion. Halic. 3, 67; v. Dict. of Antiq. p. 269 sq.

— Humorously, the stomach of a drunken woman, Plaut. Curc. 1, 2, 29; cf. intestini, Varr. ap. Non. p. 209, 19.

—* Prov.: arcem facere e cloacā, much ado about nothing, Cic. Planc. 40, 95.