thyroid gland

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A two-lobed endocrine gland found in all vertebrates, located in front of and on either side of the trachea in humans, and producing various hormones, such as triiodothyronine and calcitonin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun anatomy A large butterfly-shaped endocrine gland situated on the front of the neck that produces various hormones. Removal due to thyroid cancer is termed a total thyroidectomy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun located near the base of the neck