introitus

Noun

introitus (plural introituses)

1. The entrance to a hollow organ or canal; often specifically the entrance to the vagina.
   • During NA therapy, 49 of the 54 women cleared their introitus of all Enterobacteriaceae.1980, Thomas Alexander Stamey, Pathogenesis and Treatment of Urinary Tract Infections, Williams & Wilkins, →ISBN, page 144, →ISBN
   • Now, far be it from me to add insult to injury, but how could you be so klutzy that you "missed the introitus"?1988 January 29, Cecil Adams, “The Straight Dope”, in Chicago Reader

   Synonyms:

   introitus vaginæ

2. A piece of music played before a mass; a musical introduction of any sort.
   • Five have an introitus (introduction) that stands outside the isorhythmic scheme;¹⁰⁸ some of these introitus are instrumental rather than vocal […]1954, Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance, W.W. Norton, page 22
   • As summarized in Example 3.14, nearly all of these introitus […]1992, Jon Michael Allsen, Style and intertextuality in the isorhythmic motet 1400-1440, volume 1, University of Wisconsin-Madison, page 118