Weasand

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈwiːzÉ™nd/

Alternative forms

• weazand
• wezzen, wizen, wizzen, wosen dialectal
• wesand, wezand obsolete

Origin

From Middle English wesand, wesande, from Old English wǣsend, wāsend ("weasand, windpipe, gullet"), from Proto-Germanic *waisundiz ("windpipe, gullet"), from Proto-Indo-European *weys- ("to flow, run"). Cognate with Old Frisian wāsende, wāsande ("weasand"), Middle High German weisant ("windpipe"), Bavarian Waisel, Wasel, Wasling ("the gullet of ruminating animals").

Full definition of weasand

Noun

1. The oesophagus; the windpipe; the trachea.
• 1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe:“By Heaven, and all saints in it, better food hath not passed my weasand for three livelong days, and by God’s providence it is that I am now here to tell it.”
2. The throat in general.
• 1964, Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like the Sun:‘Which fellows?’ Very loud now, but a tightening in her weasand.