Throat sb.

Forms: 1 ð-, þrote, þrotu, 2–5 þ-, 2–7 throte, (3 þorte), 4–9 (mainly Sc.) throt, 5–6 (8 Naut.) thrott, (5 troht, 5–6 throthe, Sc. throit), 6–7 throate, 6– throat. [OE. þrote, -u, wk. fem., = OHG. droʓʓa wk. f., MHG. droʓʓe wk. f. or m. (whence mod. Ger. drossel wk. f., throat, THROTTLE); app. from OTeut. root *þrut-, Indo-Eur. *trud-: cf. OE. þrútian to swell, þrútung swelling, ON. þrútna to swell, þrútinn swollen, þroti a swelling; the name may have had reference to the external appearance of the throat. Beside this an OTeut. *strut- is evidenced by OLG. strota wk. f., throat (MLG., LG. strotte, MDu. strote, Du. strot throat); cf. Ofris. strotbolla, beside OE. þrotbolla, THROAT-BOLL; also MHG. stroʓʓe wk. f. (whence It. strozza throat). The original relations between the stems þrut- and strut- are not determined, but both may have had the sense ‘thrust out, project, swell.’]

  I.  The part of the body.

  1.  The front of the neck beneath the chin and above the collar-bones, containing the passages from the mouth and nose to the lungs and stomach. Also the corresponding part in vertebrates generally, and sometimes the analogous part in insects, etc.

  (As ‘round the neck’ necessarily includes ‘round the throat,’ ‘throat’ is sometimes said with the wider sense of the ‘neck’: cf. quot. 13[?]².)

c. 700, etc.  [implied in THROAT-BOLL].

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., II. 250. Iudas … hine sylfne aheng sona mid grine, and rihtlice ʓewrað ða forwyrhtan ðrotan.

a. 1154.  O. E. Chron., an. 1137. Me … diden an scærp iren abuton þa mannes throte.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 16/525. In þe þrote with a swerd he smot þe suete rode.

13[?].  K. Alis., 5952. He ne had noiþere nekke ne þrote His heued was in his body yshote.

13[?].  Sir Beues (A.), 218. Þow schelt ben hanged be þe þrote.

1340.  Ayenb., 14. Þet bodi of þe beste wes ase lipard, þe uet weren of bere, þe þrote of lioun.

a. 1450.  Myrc, Festial, 79. By ryght dome, þat þrote þat spake þe wordes of traytery aȝeynys his Lord, þat þrote was ystrangled wyth þe grynne of a rope.

1553.  Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 15. [The Elephant] his mouth is vnder his throte.

1573.  Satir. Poems Reform., xxxix. 142. Thay schot gude Manfrild in athort the throit.

1741.  Richardson, Pamela (1824), I. 84. His throat sticking out like a wen.

1826.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. 367. External Anatomy of Insects…. 2. Jugulum (the Throat). That part of the subface that lies between the temples.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xxii. 156. The cold smote my naked throat bitterly.

1878.  Villari, Machiavelli (1898), I. III. viii. 143. Her throat is well turned but seems to me somewhat thin.

  2.  The passage in the anterior part of the neck, leading from the mouth and nose to the gullet and windpipe; also, either of these passages considered separately.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxii. § 1. He is swiðe biter on muðe, & he þe tirð on ða þrotan.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Voc., in Wr-Wülcker, 157/41. Guttur, þrotu.

c. 1220.  Bestiary, 507, in O. E. Misc., 16. Vt of his ðrote it [whale] smit an onde, Ðe swetteste ðing ðat is o londe.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xx. (Blasius), 344. Quha-sa-euire in þare throt seknes has.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxiv. (Bodl. MS.). The þrote is þe pipes of þe lunges … Þe substaunce of þis pipe is grustely and hard.

1425.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 635/17. Nomina membrorum…. Hec gula, troht.

c. 1475.  Pict. Voc., ibid. 748/13. Hec gula, Hoc guttur, Hic jugulus, a throthe.

1527.  Andrew, Brunswyke’s Distyll. Waters, A iij b. The same water … gargoled in the throte … withdryueth the payne of the throte.

1602.  Marston, Ant. & Mel., III. Wks. 1856, I. 31. Thou … choakst their throts with dust.

1769.  Cook, Voy. round World, I. v. (1773), 56. A sound exactly like that which we make to clear the throat when any thing happens to obstruct it.

1897.  ‘Tivoli’ (H. W. Bleakley), Short Innings, v. 76. A huge piece of cake went down the wrong thront, and Carrots had to belabour bim lustily to persuade it to take the right direction.

  3.  This part with its passages, considered in various capacities, whence various expressions.

  a.  Viewed as the entrance to the stomach; hence in figurative expressions, as

  (to fill, full) up to the throat, to the limit of capacity: to pour (also send) down the throat, to waste or squander (property or money) in eating and drinking; to cram, ram, thrust down one’s throat, to force (an opinion or the like) upon one’s acceptance; to jump down one’s throat, to interrupt one in his speech sharply or roughly; in quot. 1883, ? to give oneself up absolutely to a person.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 216. Ȝif þe gulchecuppe weallinde bres to drincken, & ȝeot in his wide þrote.

1340–70.  Alex. & Dind., 677. Bacus þe bollere … Ȝe callen himn kepere of þe þrote.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, xxvi. 65. Ay as thay tomit thame of schot, Ffyendis fild thame new vp to the thrott.

1606.  Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. v. 36. The Gold I giue thee, will I melt and powr Downe thy ill vttering throate.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 543. Who … delight to send their estates downe the throat.

1734.  Ramsay, Vision, viii. Quha rammed, and crammed, That bargin down thair throts.

1829.  Fonblanque, Eng. under Seven Administr. (1837), I. 232. Since the Duke of Wellington … thrust the Emancipation Bill down his [Geo. IV.’s] royal throat.

1861.  Dickens, Lett., 3 Dec. A place already full to the throat.

1883.  Mrs. Kennard, Right Sort, ix. I might have jumped down this gentleman’s throat in my foolish admiration for his powers of equitation.

  b.  Considered as containing the vocal organs; hence transf. the voice.

  † To lay, set out, (set up) a or one’s throat, to raise one’s voice; † (to speak) with a full throat, (to speak) loudly: hence fig. plainly, roundly; at the top of one’s throat, at the top of one’s voice: see TOP sb.

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 1721. Þe wrenne … hadde stefne small Heo hadde gode þrote [v.r. þorte] & schille.

c. 1369.  Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 320. To fynde out of mery crafty notys They ne spared nat her throtes.

a. 1450.  [see sense 1].

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. cxiii. [cxv.] 7. Fete haue they, but they can not go, nether can they speake thorow their throte.

1567.  Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 110. Thay can pronunce na voce furth of thair throtis.

1600.  Holland, Livy, VII. ix. 255. As lowd as ever he could set out a throate, maketh this challenge.

1686.  trans. Chardin’s Coronat. Solyman, 94. These Women made such a noise … set up their throats as they did before.

1742.  Gray, Spring, i. The Attic warbler pours her throat, Responsive to the cuckow’s note.

1819.  Scott, Leg. Montrose, xi. Men … talking Earse at the top of their throats.

1869.  Ruskin, Q. of Air, § 65. Into the throat of the bird is given the voice of the air.

  c.  In the repudiation of a statement as false, in phr. (to give, etc., one the lie) in († down) one’s throat, regarded as the place of issue, to which the assertion is thrown back; also, with merely intensive force, to lie in one’s throat, to lie foully or infamously.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., II. i. 55. Till I haue … Thrust these reprochfull speeches downe his throat, That he hath breath’d in my dishonour heere. Ibid. (1601), Twel. N., III. iv. 172. Thou lyest in thy throat. Ibid. (1602), Ham., II. ii. 600. Who … giues me the Lye i’th’ Throate, As deepe as to the Lungs?

1616.  J. Lane, Cont. Sqr.’s T., IX. 198. Gave him home the lie, adowne his throte.

a. 1648.  Ld. Herbert, Hen. VIII. (1683), 227. We say unto you, that you have lyed in your throat.

1805.  Scott, Last Minstrel, V. xx. He lyes most foully in his throat.

1824.  Byron, Lett. to Murray, Wks. (1846), 433/1. Whoever asserts that I am the author…, lies in his throat.

  d.  Regarded as a vital part, and the most vulnerable point of attack; esp. in the phrase to cut the throat, to kill by this method; also fig.

  Hence, to cut one’s own throat (with one’s own knife), to be the means of one’s own defeat or destruction; to cut the throat of (a project, etc.), to defeat, destroy, put an end to: see CUT v. 46; to cut one another’s throats, to be desperately at variance, quarrel violently; mod. colloq., to engage in ruinous competition (cf. CUTTHROAT 6, quot. 1886); also to have, hold, catch, take by the throat (also fig.), † to pull out, to fly at, † start into (unto) one’s throat.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 423. Þes apes … done more harm to men þen þof þei cutted hor throtes.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 1803 (Lucrece). That hast hire by the throte with a swerd at herte.

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 1812. Þai suld titly þam take & by þe toȝe throtis, And for þaire souerayne sake þam send to þe galawis.

c. 1400.  Brut, 22. She come to here sone … wiþ ij knyfes, and þerwiþ cotte his þrote.

1583.  Golding, Calvin on Deut. lxxx. 490. They cut their own throtes with their own knife.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., IX. (S.T.S.), II. 197. Quha committis a sworde til an vnskilful persone, quhairwith, quhither he cut his awne throt, or hurt the cuntrie [etc.].

1631.  R. Byfield, Doctr. Sabb., 111. That … cuts the throat of your solution.

1685.  Dk. Buckhm., Reason. Relig., in Phenix (1708), II. 526. Perpetually quarrelling amongst themselves, and cutting one another’s Throats.

a. 1722.  Fountainhall, Decis. (1759), I. 7. This interlocutor … knocked his cause … in the head, and cutted its throat.

1824, 1867.  [see CUT v. 46].

1828.  Standard, 8 March, 1/3. There was a number of the high Orange party and the Catholics, who were ready to fly at each other’s throats.

1884.  Rider Haggard, Dawn, xii. He had let him die; he had effectually and beyond redemption cut his own throat.

  † 4.  fig. The devouring capacity of any destructive agency, as death, war, etc.; cf. JAW sb.¹ 5, MAW sb.¹ 1 b, TEETH. Obs.

a. 1578.  Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 55. The maist walliezand men in the throt of the battell.

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., V. iv. 5. He fights, Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death.

1730–46.  Thomson, Seasons, Autumn, 937. Calm and intrepid in the very throat Of sulphurous war.

  II.  Transferred senses.

  5.  A narrow passage, esp. in or near the entrance of something; a narrow part in a passage.

a. 1584.  Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 1551. A prettic spring: Quhois throt, sir, I wot, sir, Ȝe may stap with ȝour neive.

1814.  Scott, Diary, 17 Aug., in Lockhart. The access through this strait would be easy, were it not for the Island of Græmsay, lying in the very throat of the passage.

1823.  Buckland, Reliq. Diluv., 141. The throat of the cave, by which we ascend from the mouth to the interior.

1837.  Emerson, Address Amer. Schol., Wks. (Bohn), II. 186. One central fire, which flaming now out of the … throat of Vesuvius, illuminates the towers … of Naples.

1838.  J. L. Stephens, Trav. Russia, 70/1. Field-pieces, whose throats once poured their iron hail against the walls within which they now repose as trophies.

1899.  A. Griffiths, in Fortn. Rev., LXV. 312. Lang’s Nek, the throat of the passage into the Transvaal.

  6.  spec. in technical use. a. Archit., Building, etc. † (a) The narrowest part of the shaft of a column, immediately below the capital; the hypotrachelium. (b) The neck of an outwork: GORGE sb.¹ 6. (c) The part in a chimney, furnace, or furnace-arch immediately above the fireplace, which narrows down to the neck or ‘gathering.’ (d) A groove or channel on the under side of a coping or projecting molding to keep the drip from reaching the wall.

1663.  Gerbier, Counsel, 32. The Freese, Gul or Throat.

1727–41.  Chambers, Cycl., Throat, in architecture, fortification, &c., see Gorge, and Gula.

1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 246. The throat is that part of the opening immediately above the fire, and contained between the mantle and the back.

1838.  Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 364/1. The smoke … ascends vertically by the throat of the chimney into the flue.

1868.  Joynson, Metals, 16. The opening at the top of the furnace, called the throat or trunnel-hole.

1895.  Jrnl. Roy. Instit. Brit. Archit., 14 March, 351. If brick sills be used, see that they have a good, clean throat.

  b.  Shipbuilding and Naut. (a) The hollow of the bend of a knee-timber. (b) The outside curve of the jaws of a gaff; hence, the forward upper corner of a fore-and-aft sail; see also quot. 1867 (c) The amidships part of a floor-timber, esp. if it bulges and then tapers into the kelson. (d) The curve of the flukes of an anchor where they join the shank.

1711.  W. Sutherland, Shipbuild. Assist., 165. Throat, the inward bending of Knee-timber.

1776.  Falconer, Dict. Marine, Throat, a name given to the inner end of a gaff, or to that part which is next to the mast. It is opposed to peek, which implies the outer extremity of the said gaff.

c. 1850.  Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 142. They must be deeper in the throat or at the cutting-down. Ibid., 155. Throat,… the midship part of the floor-timbers.

c. 1860.  H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., It is … bolted through the throat of each floor.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Throt, that part of the mizen-yard close to the mast.

1882.  Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 81. Hooked to a bolt in the throat of the gaff.

  c.  Mech., etc. (a) Of a plough: see quot. 1807. (b) In a threshing-machine, the passage from the feed-board to the threshing-cylinder (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1877). (c) The opening in the stock of a plane, in which the iron is set, and through which the shavings pass. (d) A contracted part of a spoke near the hub (Knight). (e) The angle between the running surface of a railway tramcar wheel and its flange. U.S. (f) A tapered pipe connecting two tubes or sections of different diameters (Cent. Dict., Suppl., 1909).

1807.  A. Young, Agric. Essex, I. 132. The throat,… the space from the share point to the junction or approach of the breast to the beam.

1805.  Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 4. The throat and breast, or that part which enters, perforates, and breaks up the ground.

  7.  Bot. The throat-like opening of a gamopetalous corolla at which the tube and the petals unite.

1847.  W. E. Steele, Field Bot., 8. Florets all tubular, with an inflated throat, generally spreading into a hemispherical head.

1880.  Gray, Struct. Bot., vi. 5 (ed. 6), 246. The line, or sometimes a manifest or conspicuous portion, between the limb and the tube … is called the Throat, in Latin Faux, pl. fauces.

1882.  Garden, 28 Jan., 66/3. The throat of the flower is unbearded.

  8.  attrib. and Comb. a. attrib. ‘of, pertaining to, or affecting the throat,’ as throat-ache, -disease, -muscle, -performer, -roar, etc.; in sense 6 b (b), as throat-bolt, -brail, cringle, -downhaul, halyard, lashing (see these words, and quots. here); b. ‘that is on, around, or near the throat,’ as throat-bar, button, -cloth, -feather, -fringe, -patch, -wattle; c. objective, obj. genitive, locative, etc., as throat-clearing sb. and adj., -clutching, -slitting; throat-bursten, -cracking, -swollen adjs. d. Special combs.: † throat-brisk, ? part of the brisket near the throat; throat-chain, in whaling, a chain passed through the throat and tongue of the whale; throat-clutch, a guttural catch or momentary closure; throat-deafness, deafness caused by a diseased condition of the throat; throat-flap, the epiglottis; throat-full a., full to the throat, stuffed, crammed; throat-jaws, jaw-like pharyngeal bones in the lower vertebrates; throat-letter, a guttural; throat-piece, (a) in mediæval armor, a part of the helm protecting the throat; (b) the neck of a racket, where the ends of the rim are brought together upon the handle (Cent. Dict., Suppl., 1909); throat-pipe, the windpipe; also, the steam supply pipe in a steam-engine; throat-pit, a triangular depression at the front of the neck, between the collar-bones at the point where they articulate with the breastbone; throat-plate, the forward exterior plate of a locomotive fire-box (Cent. Dict., Suppl.); throat-pouch, a gular sac in certain birds and animals; throat-register, the lowest register of the voice; throat-ring, Waldeyer’s name for the circular group of lymphatic bodies surrounding the beginning of the respiratory tract; throat-room, room for shouting; throat-root, an American hairy species of Avens, Geum virginianum; throat-rupture, goiter; throat-seizing, Naut.: see quot.; throat-stopper, the epiglottis: cf. throat-flap; throat-strap = THROAT-LATCH; throat-sweetbread, butcher’s name for the thymus gland; also called neck-sweetbread; throat-thong = THROAT-LATCH; throat-toggle, a toggle with which the throat-chain is secured; throat-vent, the opening in a coking-oven for the escape of smoke, etc.; throat-wash, a medicinal gargle. See also THROAT-BAND, THROAT-BOLL, etc.

1898.  J. Arch, Story of Life, x. 247. Head-aches and heart-aches and *throat-aches.

1872.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 180. Chuck-will’s-widow … a whitish *throatbar.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Throat-bolts, eye-bolts fixed in the lower parts of the tops, and the jaw-ends of gaffs for hooking the throat-halliards to.

1815.  Burney, Falconer’s Dict. M., *Throat-Brails,… are those which are attached to the gaff close to the mast.

1615.  Chapman, Odyss., III. 620. Apart flew either thie: That with the fat they dubd with art alone; The *throte-briske, and the sweet-bread pricking on.

1890.  ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Miner’s Right, xxxiv. One button was missing between the upper or *throat button and the third.

1874.  C. M. Scammon, Marine Mammals, 235. With a spade, a hole is made through both the throat and tongue, when the *throat-chain toggle is inserted.

1811.  L. M. Hawkins, C’tess & Gertr., I. 78. A vast deal of *throat-clearing, face-stroking, and aukward hesitation.

1871.  Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., Dec., 2. He invariably wore a white *throat-cloth or neckerchief.

1895.  F. Osgood, in Forum (N.Y.), June, 597. Nerve-strain tends to the prevalence of the high vocal pitch and to the American fault—the *throat-clutch.

1895.  Outing (U.S.), XXVI. 47/1. To bend a mainsail, shackle the (throat cringle to the eyebolt under the jaws of the gaff [etc.].

1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 778. Adult patients suffering since childhood from *‘throat-deafness.’ Ibid., 750. The so-called ‘lithæmic diathesis’ is a much more frequent cause of *throat-disease than is generally believed.

1877.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Throat-downhauls..., ropes for rousing down the throat of a gaff.

1872.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 162. Ravens, with *throat-feathers acute, lengthened, disconnected.

1683.  A. Snape, Anat. Horse, IV. x. (1686), 165. The Epiglottis or *Throat-flap, that covers the chink of the Larynx.

1896.  Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1 Dec., 932. The narrowness and banded coloration of the *throat-fringe must likewise be noted.

1681.  W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 475. To dine, or eat till he be *throatfull.

a. 1800.  Cowper, On Receipt of Hamper. A bottle green Throat-full.

1762.  Falconer, Shipwr., II. 389. The hallyards *thrott and peek are next apply’d. Ibid. (1776), Dict. Marine, s.v. Throat, The ropes employed to hoist up, and lower a gaff,… are called the throat or peek haliards.

1893.  Pemberton, Iron Pirate, 39. There being … no hand either at the peak halyards or the throat halyards.

1873.  Mivart, Lessons Elem. Anat., viii. § 18. 318. Moving those *‘throat-jaws,’ the pharyngeal bones, which exist in so many of the lowest Vertebrate class.

1893.  Times, 13 June, 12/1. A *throat lashing of steel rope.

1847.  Proc. Philol. Soc., III. 116. A similar interchange between lip and *throat letters.

1875.  Huxley & Martin, Elem. Biol. (1877), 203. The *throat-muscles: through the broad thin muscle in front (mylohyoid) is seen the hypoglossal nerve.

1872.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 195. Young birds lack … the crimson *throat-patch.

1776.  Burney, Hist. Mus., I. 340. The vociferous Stentor … the most illustrious *Throat-performer, or herald of antiquity.

1869.  Boutell, Arms & Arm., v. (1874), 79. His helm is ornamented…; the *throat-piece has thunderbolts … in hammer work.

1600.  J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, III. 185. The inhabitants of this region haue the balles of their *throat-pipes very great.

1632.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 29. She … stab’d her husband … in the face, thinking to strike him in the throat-pipes.

1824.  R. Stuart, Hist. Steam Engine, 72. The regulator valve [the ‘throttle’], which opens or shuts the communication between the cylinder and boiler by the throat-pipe.

1660.  Albert Durer Revived, 4. A straight perpendicular line from the *Throat-pit down.

1672.  Sir T. Browne, Lett. to Friend, § 10. Some are so curious as to observe the depth of the throat-pit.

1871.  Darwin, Desc. Man, II. xii. II. 33. In the genus Sitana, the males alone are furnished with a large *throat-pouch.

1872.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 18. Pelicans, cormorants, etc., that have a naked throat-pouch.

1903.  Med. Record, 7 Feb., 228. The various lymphatic structures in Waldeyer’s so called lymphatic *throat ring.

1843.  Carlyle, Past & Pr., III. xii. Let me have elbow-room, *throat-room, and I will not fail!

1858.  Hilpert’s Eng.-Germ. Dict., *Throat-root.

1884.  Miller, Plant-n., Geum virginianum, Throat-root, White Avens.

1684.  trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., II. 44. One … had his neck wonderfully swelled with the *Throat-Rupture.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Throat-seizing, in blocks, confines the hook and thimble in the strop home to the scores.

1886.  Corbett, Fall of Asgard, II. 9. There will be some merry *throat-slitting.

1661.  Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., Introd. Amongst Birds … The *throat stopper is in none, yet they temper the motion so, that nothing may fall into the throat.

1877.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Throat-strap, the upper strap of a halter that encircles the horse’s throat; also called jaw strap.

a. 1661.  Holyday, Juvenal, x. 191. Nero did … ne’re contract With one *throat-swoln, gor-bellied, or crump-back’d.

1611.  Cotgr., Sousgorge d’une bride, the *throat-thong, or throat-band of a bridle.

1874.  C. M. Scammon, Marine Mammals, 232. The cutting-gear … consists of toggles, spades, boarding and leaning knives, gaffs, pikes, blubber-hooks, head-straps, fin-chain, *throat-toggle, head axes, etc.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 997. The *throat-vents … are then left open.

1901.  Lancet, 2 Nov., 1203/1. The application of an antiseptic *throat-wash.

1875.  Zoologist, X. 4686. It [a bird] has but one medial *throat-wattle.