throaty

throat +‎ -y

throaty (comparative throatier, superlative throatiest)

1. (of a sound) Produced in the throat; having a rough or coarse quality like a sound produced in the throat.

   A throaty cough.

   • 1622 August 1, James Howell, “LXXIII. To Cap. T. P. from Madrid”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], volume II, 3rd edition, London: Printed for Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, OCLC 84295516, page 384:

     The concluſion of this rambling Letter ſhall be a rhime of certain hard throary^{[sic, meaning throaty]} Words which I was taught lately, and they are accounted the difficulteſt in all the whole Caſtilian Language, inſomuch that he who is able to pronounce them, is accounted Buen Romanciſta, a good ſpeaker of Spaniſh: […]

   • 1911, Pauline Johnson, Legends of Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, “The Tulameen Trail,” p. 47,

     But the most haunting of all the melodies is the warbling laughter of the Tulameen; its delicate note is far more powerful, more far-reaching than the throaty thunders of the Niagara.

   • 1989, John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany, New York: William Morrow, Chapter 3, p. 129,

     We could hear a motor running; it seemed too deep and throaty a motor to be the squad car, and after we passed the high school, the engine noise grew louder.

   • 2012, Tom Lamont, How Mumford & Sons became the biggest band in the world (in The Daily Telegraph, 15 November 2012),

     Since forming in 2007 Mumford & Sons have hard-toured their way to a vast market for throaty folk that's strong on banjo and bass drum. They have released two enormous albums. But, wow, do they take some knocks back home.

2. (of livestock or dogs) Having a dewlap or excess skin hanging under the neck.
   • 1789, Mr. Marshall, The Rural Economy of Glocestershire, London: G. Nicol, p. 248,

     Qualities exceptionable in a Herefordshire ox, for grazing. […] The neck short, thick, coarse; loaded with leather and dewlap; “throaty.”

   • 1849, “Col. Randall’s Merino Sheep,” American Agriculturalist, Volume 8, No. 4, April 1849, p. 120,

     […] his flock is not so throaty as Merinos were formerly bred, as he considers throatiness objectionable.

   • 1926, Warren Miller, The American Hunting Dog, New York: Appleton, Chapter , p. 31,

     In 1558 the beagle had become well patronised by royalty and was painted by court painters, so that we know his type to have been already well established, a small hound with long, drooping ears, short pudgy body and throaty neck.

• throatily
• throatiness