throatiness

English

Etymology

throaty +‎ -ness

Noun

throatiness (uncountable)

  1. (with reference to a voice) The property of being throaty; roughness, coarseness.
    • 1848, “Dramatic Intelligence,” The Musical World, Volume 23, No. 45, 4 November, 1848, p. 716,
      Mademoiselle de Roissi’s voice […] is quite free from that throatiness of sound, an invariable characteristic of French voices, which, had we no evidence to the contrary, would lead us to suppose, that Mdlle. de Roissi had studied vocalization in Italy […]
    • 1930, Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Chapter 11, p. 130,
      Amazement took the throatiness out of his voice.
    • 1952, John Steinbeck, East of Eden, New York: Viking, 1986, Chapter 43, p. 633,
      His eyes began to glow and his voice took on the throatiness he used in sermons.
  2. (with reference to a sheep or dog) The property of having a dewlap or excess skin hanging under the neck.
    • 1803, John Southey Somerville, Facts and Observations Relative to Sheep, Wool, Ploughs, and Oxen, London: William Miller, p. 24,
      We have before noticed, that a pendulous skin under the throat, what we term throatiness, is much esteemed, because it is supposed to denote a tendency both to wool and to a heavy fleece.
    • 1840, Willis Gaylord and Luther Tucker, American Husbandry, New York: Harper & Brothers, Volume 1, Chapter 9, p. 190,
      A variety was produced superior to the Merino in form, carrying less wool, but this more than compensated by its fineness. The excessive throatiness of the Paulars disappeared or was greatly diminished.
    • 1859, “Stonehenge” (John Henry Walsh), The Dog in Health and Disease, London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts, Chapter 3, p. 49,
      Both, however, were large, bony hounds, with long falling ears, but the southern hounds had absolute dewlaps, or at all events such excessive throatiness as to make them rejected in the present day on that account alone.
    • 1905, Frank Townend Barton, Sporting Dogs, London: R.A. Everett, Chapter 8, p. 114,
      The neck [of the foxhound] must be long and clean, without the slightest throatiness.
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