fĕnestra (noun F) : (also contr. festra, Enn. ap. Macr. S. 3, 12; Petr. Fragm. p. 872 Burm.; cf. Paul. ex Fest. p. 91, 6 Müll.), root ΦΑΝ, in φαίνω, φανερός
* An opening in the wall to admit the light, a window (orig. closed by two wooden shutters or by curtains, and not till the empire by sheets of mica, lapis specularis; cf. Dict. of Antiq. p. 520 sq.): neque fenestra, nisi clatrata,Plaut. Mil. 2, 4, 26: fenestras indere,id. Rud. 1, 1, 6: fenestrarum angustias quod reprehendis,Cic. Att. 2, 3, 2: bifores,Ov. P. 3, 3, 5: juncta, closed, * Hor. C. 1, 25, 1; cf. patulae,Ov. M. 14, 752: reticulatae,Varr. R. R. 3, 7, 3: se plena per insertas fundebat luna fenestras,Verg. A. 3, 152: diversas percurrens luna fenestras,Prop. 1, 3, 31 Burm. ad loc.: fenestram in arca facies,Vulg. Gen. 6, 16 et saep.
* Transf.
* A loop-hole for arrows, etc.: (in turri) fenestras ad tormenta mittenda, in struendo reliquerunt,Caes. B. C. 2, 9 fin.
* Trop., an entrance, admission, opportunity, inlet, occasion (very seldom): hui quantam fenestram ad nequitiam patefeceris!Ter. Heaut. 3, 1, 72: si hanc fenestram aperueritis, nihil aliud agi sinetis, Tiber. ap. Suet. Tib. 28.
* Poet., transf., of holes through the tips of the ears: natus ad Euphraten, molles quod in aure fenestrae Arguerint,Juv. 1, 104.
* Of the senses, windows for intelligence: ut facile intelligi possit, animum et videre et audire, non eas partes, quae quasi fenestrae sint animi,Cic. Tusc. 1, 20, 46

s. TLL