1839, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist: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 villainy which by these lights became plain as day.
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.
A slit in a castle wall. Later: any similar window for shooting a weapon or letting in light.
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.
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.
Verb
(military) 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 Chapter , The lower windows were barricaded, and the whole building loopholed for musketry fire.
1907, A. E. W. Mason, The Broken Road Chapter , The doors were barricaded, the shutters closed upon the windows and loopholed, and provisions were brought in from the outhouses.
