Definition of "syrinx" [syr•inx]

• Music See panpipe. (noun)
• Zoology The vocal organ of a bird, consisting of thin vibrating muscles at or close to the division of the trachea into the bronchi. (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.

• "Charmed with the soothing tones, he endeavoured to reproduce them himself, and after cutting seven of the reeds of unequal length, he joined them together, and succeeded in producing the pipe, which he called the syrinx, in memory of his lost love."
• "The tingling was the result of a growing fluid-filled bubble in his spine called a syrinx, also caused by the constriction."
• "Many scientific gentlemen have declared that the syrinx is the voice organ of the birds, the elastic margins of the folds or valves being set to vibrating by the projection of the air from the lungs, and thus producing the varied lays we hear in the outdoor concert."