The Only Use of
hiatus
in
A Prayer for Owen Meany
- Uncle Bulwer was pecked on top of his head during a fortunate hiatus in what should have been a most private action, and he was so fearful of the attacking owl that he fled the privy with his pants down at his ankles, and did even greater injury to himself--greater than the owl's injury--by running headfirst into a pine tree.
p. 427.9hiatus = break (gap in time without activity)
Definitions:
-
(1)
(hiatus) a gap in time (when there is no or less activity)
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much less commonly, hiatus can have these specialized meanings:- linguistics: the pause when adjacent vowels are in adjacent syllables -- as in reality
- anatomy: an opening, gap, or split -- such as the aortic hiatus or a hiatal hernia