noun

• (anatomy, zootomy) A hollow muscular organ of the neck of mammals situated just below where the tract of the pharynx splits into the trachea and the oesophagus. It is involved in breath control and protection of the trachea, and, as it houses the vocal cords, sound production.
  "There is one thing, among abundance of others, in Anatomy, which has always much affected me with Admiration, [...] It is the Situation and Elaſticity of the Epiglottis, a ſoft Cartilaginous Cover to the Larynx, or Orifice of the Wind-pipe; that this Epiglottis ſhould, all a Man's life, be drawn up, for the Benefit of Reſpiration, and fall down and ſhut, whilſt every bit we eat, and every drop we drink, paſſes over it into the Gullet and Stomach; and that we ſhould ſo ſeldom have Occaſion to cough up a crum, or drop, that may accidentaly ſlip into the Larynx; [...]"