1) The muscular membranous segment between the pharynx and the stomach in the upper gastrointestinal tract.

2) A muscular tube that in adult humans is about nine inches (23 centimeters) long and passes from the pharynx down the neck between the trachea and the spinal column and behind the left bronchus where it pierces the diaphragm slightly to the left of the middle line and joins the cardiac end of the stomach.

3) The muscular tube through which food passes from the throat to the stomach.