What does "judas-hole" mean?

A small hole in a door through which a person can spy without being seen from the other side, used especially in prisons.

What is a synonym for "judas-hole"?

Common synonyms include: judas, judas window.

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A small hole in a door through which a person can spy without being seen from the other side, used especially in prisons.
"A moment, and an iron-grated Judas-hole in the door slid open, and a servant, an elderly man, sleek and respectable, looked out at him."

"A moment, and an iron-grated Judas-hole in the door slid open, and a servant, an elderly man, sleek and respectable, looked out at him."

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.