Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The opening between the vocal cords at the upper part of the larynx.
- n. The vocal apparatus of the larynx.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In anat, the mouth of the windpipe; the opening at the top of the larynx; the chink, cleft, or fissure between the vocal cords. It closes to a slit-like opening during phonation, through the approximation of the vocal cords. The term designates most strictly the opening itself, sometimes distinguished as rima glottidis, but is also applied to the opening with the contiguous limiting structures, as in the expression' œdema of the glottis, much as the term ‘mouth’ is used so as to include the lips. The ventral or anterior portion of the glottis, called
glottis vocalis , is bounded by the true vocal cords; the dorsal or posterior part, glottis respiratoria, by the internal margins of the arytenoid cartilages. - n. The reed or tongue of certain ancient musical instruments.
- n. In ornithology, an old name of the greenshank; subsequently taken as the specific name of the same, Totanus glottis; made by Koch in 1816 the generic name of the same, Glottis chloropus.
Wiktionary
- n. anatomy An organ of speech, located in the larynx, and consisting of the true vocal cords and the opening between them.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Anat.) The opening from the pharynx into the larynx or into the trachea. See larynx.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the vocal apparatus of the larynx; the true vocal folds and the space between them where the voice tone is generated
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek γλῶττίς, γλῶσσίς glottis, "languet", derived from γλῶττα, γλῶσσα glotta / glossa, "tongue". Cognates include Latin gula. (Wiktionary)
- Greek glōttis, from glōtta, glōssa, tongue. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Surrounding the voice box (and the doctors in this room will bear this out) is what is known as the glottis wall.”
“As the air rushes past the glottis, which is still partially closed, a sound recalling the whoop of pertussis is heard.”
“Shock, loss of blood, asphyxia from blood entering the air-passages, and œdema of the glottis are the most frequent causes of death soon after the injury.”
Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition.
“The glottis is the chink between the true vocal bands.”
“When coughing, swallowing, vomiting, holding the breath tightly, etc., these folds of mucous membrane close over the true bands, often completely, and thus shut up for the moment the whole of that space between the bands known as the glottis, or glottic chink, to which reference was made in a previous chapter as the space through which the air finally gains access to the lungs.”
“In this way you will avoid the stroke of the glottis which is caused by the sudden and uncontrolled emission of the accumulated breath.”
“It will be noted that Madame Seiler spoke of the vocal bands (cords) proper as the "ligamentous glottis," and included in the "glottis" the arytenoid cartilages themselves, or, at all events, that part of them, their lower anterior angles, known as the vocal processes (or extensions), to which the vocal bands proper are attached.”
“And I stared at the black hole, the singularity where the glottis should be.”
“In less than 35 milliseconds the glottis (a tissue flap that guards the entrance to the trachea, or windpipe) closes and produces the characteristic sound as the incoming air is blocked from entering the trachea.”
“A parrot can move the tongue, beak, glottis, larynx, and esophagus to create the sounds we make with our lips, as for the letters p, b, and d.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘glottis’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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•body-related words that make lovely ...
With thanks to quinn for the idea, seen here. It's true that most diseases cannot double as names for baby boys—but some can. And anyway in their absence I nominate (thanks to Colon/Colin) body p...
colon, lung, langerhans, cuticle, spleen, glottis, calyx, anus, peter, pertussis, strabismus, erysipelas and 26 more...
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Anatomically Correct
canthus, vibrissa, femoral, sphenoid, dura mater, pia mater, epiglottis, glottis, mons veneris, plaque, tibia, ulna and 96 more...
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Professional Scrabble Lexicon (TWL)
A myriad of game-changing words every Scrabble addict must have in his arsenal.
Keep in mind that these are all tried-and-true feasibly playable words selected for their handiness, i.e...paragon, pignora, ganef, suttee, origan, ohia, aioli, abasement, lehr, mho, tallow, harelike and 848 more...
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Some new Wordie words this week
Don't tell them they are not real--they might cry.
glover, breakfront, submaximal, criticality, lanoline, mouthy, botheration, metaphorically, metaphase, disavowal, arum, ostentatiously and 162 more...
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Phylum Obscurata Botanica
It Makes The Words, or It gets The Hose. Again.
mormo, liparos, leptotes, gaster, graphe, opsis, kochliodes, cirrus, xhonseoa, rhynchos, kata, kalos and 157 more...
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Favorite Body Part Words
pancreas, amygdala, cerebellum, patella, elbow, earlobe, hippocampus, metatarsal, urethra, islet of langerhans, pharynx, eustachian tube and 26 more...
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ynaffit's Words
sedulous, vituperative, pullulating, erstwhile, imbroglio, asperity, cynosure, adumbrate, prosopopoeia, peerless, calumny, ague and 272 more...
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space
plenum, exergue, ramage, berth, lacuna, swath, hollow, gap, expanse, between, margin, spandrel and 88 more...
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April 2010
ructus, eructation, emesis, merycism, cachexia, copremesis, fistula, hydrocephalus, glottis, afferent, efferent, bleb and 27 more...
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Human Anatomical Terms
Human bits 'n' pieces.
vas deferens, incus, crypts of lieberkühn, patella, pancreas, scaphoid, appendix, rectum, caecum, vagina, hip, ear and 46 more...
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Proust Words
I'm reading Combray from Swann's Way (Remembrance of Things Past) by Proust, and this is a list of Proustian words that I didn't know (or didn't realize were real words) at the time.
:...Frankish, apse, ashlar, untenantable, perturbation, benignant, illumined, annulated, vespers, discomforture, quatrefoils, porphyry and 7 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for glottis.
missanthropist Greek Tongue. Jul 11, 2008