throaty

Etymology

throat +‎ -y

Adjective

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.

   • 1650, James Howell, Epistolæ Ho-elianæ: Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren, London: Humphrey Mosely, Letter 73, “To Cap. T.P. from Madrid,” p. 110,

     The conclusion of this rambling letter shall be a rime of certain hard throaty words which I was taught lately, and they are accounted the difficulst 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, Vintage Canada, 2009, “The Angel,” p. 141,

     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.