Definition of "vagus nerve" []

• Either of the tenth and longest of the cranial nerves, passing through the neck and thorax into the abdomen and supplying sensation to part of the ear, the tongue, the larynx, and the pharynx, motor impulses to the vocal cords, and motor and secretory impulses to the abdominal and thoracic viscera. Also called pneumogastric nerve. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In addition, I suffered from vasovagal syncope, a fainting and seizure disorder caused by the heart sending incorrect signals from the brain to the vagus nerve and failing to pump enough blood through the body, “cured” by doctors surgically implanting a pacemaker when I was twenty-eight."
• "On its downward journey, the nerve at this point it is bundled in with the larger vagus nerve passes within inches of the larynx, which is its final destination."