weasand

noun

1. (dialectal)The oesophagus; the gullet.

   “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. (dialectal)The throat or windpipe.

   “[…] Or cut his vvezand vvith thy knife.”

   “[A]lthough the vveazon, throtle and tongue [of birds] be the inſtruments of voice, and by their agitations doe chiefly concurre unto theſe delightfull modulations, yet cannot vve aſſigne the cauſe unto any particular formation; […]”

   “For at the Throat there are tvvo cavities or conducting parts: the one the Oeſophagus or Gullet, ſeated next the ſpine, a part official unto nutrition, and vvhereby the aliment both vvet and dry is conveied unto the ſtomack; the other (by vvhich tis conceived the Drink doth paſs) is the vveazon, rough artery, or vvind-pipe, a part inſervient to voice and reſpiration; for thereby the air deſcendeth into the lungs, and is communicated unto the heart […]”

   “He Fell: The Shaft [of the arrow] that ſlightly vvas impreſs’d, / Novv from his heavy Fall vvith vveight increas’d, / Drove through his Neck, aſlant, he ſpurns the Ground; / And the Soul iſſues through the VVeazon’s VVound.”

   “Rat. / I’ll slily seize and / Let blood from her weasand,— / Creeping through crevice, and chink, and cranny, / With my snaky tail, and my sides so scranny.”