▪ I. gullet, n.
(ˈgʌlɪt)
Forms: 4–5 golet, 5 -ett, goolet, 5–6 golette, 6 goulet, gulet, 7 golit, gollet, gullit(t, 6– gullet.
[a. OF. *golet, goulet (1358 in Hatz.-Darm.), dim. of gole, goule, mod.F. gueule:—L. gula throat. Cf. gull n.4]
1. The passage in the neck of an animal by which food and drink pass from the mouth to the stomach; the œsophagus.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 200 Þis glotonye & dronkenesse makiþ men to loue more here bely & here golet þan god almyȝtty. c 1386 Chaucer Pard. T. 215 Out of the harde bones knokke they The mary, for they caste noght a wey That may go thurgh the golet soft and swoote. c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 116 Folde the necke a-boute the spite, and putt the hede ynne att the golet as a crane. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. li. 108 That she maye be deliuered from the golette of the dragon. 1548–77 Vicary Anat. v. (1888) 43 The Uuila is a member..hanging downe from the ende of the Pallet ouer the goulet of the throte. 1555 Abp. Parker Ps. lxxiii, Their gullets feele no thurst. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 629 The Tongue helpeth the Diglutition by turning the meate ouer it towards the Gullet. c 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Gullet, a Derisory Term for the Throat, from Gula. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 553 His throat cut, so that both the jugulars and the gullet were cut. 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xxiii, Through gullet and through spinal bone, The trenchant blade had sheerly gone. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 603 The Œsophagus or Gullet (Gula). 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 366 It [thrush] may attack the whole length of the gullet. |
| transf. and fig. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 13 Twelve barrow-loads altogether—are thrown on the conical furnace-lid,..and down slips the mouthful into the gullet of fire. 1893 F. Adams New Egypt 165 This morsel of your Egypt shall disappear down that vast and unappeasable gullet of our Empire. |
b. loosely. The throat, neck.
| 1646 Evelyn Diary (1889) I. 240 A goodly sort of people, having monstrous gullets, or wens of flesh growing to their throats. 1725 Swift Upright Judge Wks. 1755 IV. i. 63 He cut his weazon at the altar; I keep my gullet for the halter. 1826 Scott Woodst. v, What if I had rewarded your melody by a ball in the gullet? |
† 2. A piece of armour for the neck; the part of a hood which envelops the neck.
Obs.| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1772 Throwghe golet and gorgere he hurtez hym ewyne! 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 12862 By the goolet off myn hood The beste goth. c 1450 Robin H. & Monk xlix. in Child Ballads (1888) III. 99/1 Be þe golett of þe hode John pulled þe munke down. |
b. ‘The lower end of a horse-collar, around which passes the choke-strap, and the breast-strap which supports the pole of a carriage’ (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1875).
3. A water channel; a narrow, deep passage through which a stream flows; a strait, estuary, river mouth, etc. Now
local.
| 1515 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 13 The same..felowes..do stopp uppe the comyn golette next the saide College. 1552 T. Barnabe in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 202 Yt is the verye gulfe, gulet, and mouthe of the See. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 50 Many haue called those Streights of Gibralter, The entrie of the Mediterranean Sea. Of both sides of this gullet, neere vnto it, are two mountaines set as frontiers and rampiers to keepe all in. 1604 E. Grimstone Hist. Siege Ostend 2 The Sea..hath opened a new gollet or Port. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 703 Out of the Estuary or Gollet, which we said flowed on another part, by digging a little on the Shore, a Channel was made. 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2061/4 The Gullet under the said Draw-Bridge (commonly called the Draw-Bridge Lock) will be stopped up all the month of September next. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 261 Gold which they had picked up in the hill or gullet where the water trickled down from the rocks. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xv. xiii. (1872) VI. 113 Yonder, sure enough;..deep gullet and swampy brook in front of him. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. iii, John lay on the ground by a barrow of heather, where a little gullet was. 1886 Act 49 Vict. c. 17 §6 The Commission may..repair any bridge, arch, or gullett. |
4. a. A gorge, defile, pass; a gully or ravine; a narrow passage. ?
Obs. or
dial.| 1600 Holland Livy ix. xiv. (1609) 322 The straight gullets [L. furculas] of Caudium. 1601 ― Pliny I. 67 Augusta Prætoria, of the Salassi, neer vnto the two-fold gullets or passages of the Alpes, to wit, Graija and Peninæ. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies xv. (1658) 162 A high castle, standing in a gullet in the course of the wind. 1644 ― Mans Soul (1645) Concl. 120 The straight passage, and narrow gullet, through which thou strivest (my soule)..to make thy selfe away. 1648 Nethersole Problems ii. 7 The Romans Army was shut up fast..at the Caudine Gullets. 1737 Gaudent. di Lucca 156 The vast Falls and Gullets, which are seen on the Skirts of all the Mountains of the World. 1798 A. Seward Lett. (1811) V. 155 These houses are to form an handsome approach to the west front of our cathedral..extending down the gullet, which will be widened to admit carriages to pass each other. 1887 Hall Caine Deemster xxxiii. 218 Davy fled..along the rocky causeway to a gullet under the Giant's Grave. |
b. A long narrow piece of land.
dial.| a 1553 Ludlow Muniments in Wright Dict. Provinc. (1857) s.v., And the residewe beinge xx. li. lyeth in sundrye gullettes in severall townes and shers. 1887 S. Cheshire Gloss., Gullet, (1) a long, narrow piece of land. |
c. Mining. ‘An opening in the strata’ (Raymond
Mining Gloss. 1881).
| 1830 Buddle in Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Northumb. & Durh. I. 186 (E.D.D.) Sandstone roofs (in a mine) are subject to fissures of various sizes and extent, called threads and gullets by the colliers—the larger ones being called gullets. 1860 Eng. & For. Mining Gloss., Newcastle Terms. |
† 5. The flue of a chimney.
Obs.| 1715 tr. Pancirollus' Rerum Mem. I. ii. vi. 80 That we call a Chimney, which, as a Pipe or Gullet, receives the aspiring Smoke, and conveys it safely out of the House. 1672 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 15/2 The Gullets as we may call them of Chimneys. |
6. (See
quots.)
| 1864 Webster, Gullet,..A concave cut made in the teeth of some saw-blades. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Gullet,..a hollow cut away in front of each saw-tooth, in continuation of the face, on alternate sides of the blade. Such saws are known as gullet-saws or brier-tooth saws. |
7. attrib. and
Comb., as
gullet-bridge, ? a bridge with a very low arch forming a narrow channel for water;
gullet-fancier, a gourmet;
† gullet-lurker (see
quot.);
† gullet-nail, some kind of large nail;
gullet-pipe = sense 1;
gullet-saw (see sense 6,
quot. 1875);
gullet-tooth (see
quot.).
| 1896 Edin. Rev. Apr. 372 Old fashioned *gullet-bridges, which dam up the flood-waters. |
| 1805 Lamb Lett. (1888) I. 211 Brawn was a noble thought. It is not every common *gullet-fancier that can properly esteem it..Its gusto is of that hidden sort. |
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 771 The two Long Muscles which are seated in the forepart of the Neck vnder the Gullet, wherefore they are also called the vnder *Gullet-lurkers. |
| [1418 in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 448/1 Tingle nail ½m. {at} 1/4 *Gullet nail ½m. {at} 1/4.] c 1520 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 206 Item pro gullet nayles, 2d. |
| 1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Knights i. iii, [He] should moisten his *gulletpipe free at her expense. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Gullet-saw [see 6]. |
| Ibid., *Gullet-tooth, a form of saw-tooth. |
▪ II. gullet, v. (
ˈgʌlɪt)
[f. gullet n. (sense 6).] trans. To make ‘gullets’ in (a saw).
| 1875 [see gulleting vbl. n.2 1]. 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. s.v., Most circular and pit saws are gulleted, and the dust runs away with greater freedom from such saws. |