gullet

American  

[guhl-it] / ˈgʌl ɪt /

noun

1. the esophagus.

2. the throat or pharynx.

3. a channel for water.

4. a gully or ravine.

5. a preparatory cut in an excavation.

6. a concavity between two sawteeth, joining them at their bases.

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verb (used with object)

1. to form a concavity at the base of (a sawtooth).

gullet British  

/ ˈɡʌlɪt /

noun

1. a less formal name for the oesophagus

2. the throat or pharynx

3. mining quarrying a preliminary cut in excavating, wide enough to take the vehicle that removes the earth

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Etymology

Origin of gullet

1350–1400; Middle English golet < Old French goulet ≪ Latin gula throat; -et

Explanation

Gullet is another name for the esophagus, the organ that food passes through on its way to the stomach. When you eat a cupcake, it moves from your mouth to your pharynx, and then to your gullet. The gullet is an important part of your digestive system, linking your mouth and stomach, and also one of the earliest steps in the digestive process. Muscles in the gullet contract and relax, helping to push food along, a process that's called peristalsis. Gullet comes from the Old French golet, "neck of a bottle," from the Latin gula, "throat."

Example Sentences

As this pink delicacy was halfway down my gullet, you screamed out, “Tidbit, that’s the prop! We still need to shoot a closeup from another angle.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2025

Mobula rays feed by swimming open-mouthed through plankton-rich regions of the ocean and filtering plankton particles into their gullet as water streams into their mouths and out through their gills.

From Science Daily • Nov. 25, 2024

Visitors slid down the pole in “The Fire Cat,” slithered into the gullet of the boa constrictor in “Where the Sidewalk Ends” and lounged in a faux bubble bath in “Harry the Dirty Dog.”

From New York Times • Apr. 1, 2024

Unlike other birds, the male bittern does not use its voice box but muscles around his windpipe to expand his entire gullet into an echo chamber.

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2022

Plots within plots, but all roads lead down the dragon s gullet.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin