Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The section of the digestive tract that extends from the mouth and nasal cavities to the larynx, where it becomes continuous with the esophagus.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A museulo-membranous pouch situated at the back of the nasal cavities, mouth, and larynx, and extending from the base of the skull to the cricoid cartilage.
- noun In invertebrates, some tubular or infundibuliform beginning of the alimentary canal or continuation of the oral aperture
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Anat.) The part of the alimentary canal between the cavity of the mouth and the esophagus. It has one or two external openings through the nose in the higher vertebrates, and lateral branchial openings in fishes and some amphibias.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun anatomy The part of the
alimentary canal that extends from themouth andnasal cavities to thelarynx , where it becomescontinuous with theesophagus .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the passage to the stomach and lungs; in the front part of the neck below the chin and above the collarbone
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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What it means is that her pharynx, which is part of her throat area humans have them too!
The Hooting Cat 2008
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What it means is that her pharynx, which is part of her throat area humans have them too!
Archive 2008-07-01 2008
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The pharynx is the part of the food canal that is crossed by the passageway for the air.
Physiology and Hygiene for Secondary Schools Francis M. Walters
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Just back of the pharynx is the esophagus which leads to the beginning of the stomach.
Insects and Diseases A Popular Account of the Way in Which Insects may Spread or Cause some of our Common Diseases Rennie Wilbur Doane
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Depressing the tongue we can readily see the back wall of the pharynx, which is common to the two main avenues leading to the lungs and the stomach.
A Practical Physiology Albert F. Blaisdell
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When the pharynx is the seat of disease, breathing and swallowing are difficult and painful.
Common Diseases of Farm Animals R. A. Craig
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The endostyle (end.), in Figures 3 and 4, is a ciliated path or groove on the under side of the pharynx, which is generally supposed to represent the thyroid gland of vertebrates.
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But matters are rather complicated by the presence of an atrial cavity round the pharynx, which is not certainly represented in the vertebrata, and which the student is at first apt to call the body cavity, although it is entirely distinct and different from that space.
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In the posterior part of the pharynx is the superior extremity of the gullet, the canal through which the feed and water pass to the stomach.
Special Report on Diseases of the Horse Charles B. Michener 1877
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Inflammation of the pharynx is a complication of other diseases -- namely, influenza, strangles, etc. -- and is probably always more or less complicated with inflammation of the larynx.
Special Report on Diseases of the Horse Charles B. Michener 1877
chained_bear commented on the word pharynx
The cavity between the mouth and the esophagus, lined by a mucous membrane and enclosed by muscles, and communicating also with the nasal cavity, Eustachian tubes, and larynx.
Wow. That definition has a lot of other cool words in it. So does this one:
In invertebrates: the part of the alimentary canal immediately posterior to the buccal cavity.
February 5, 2007