isthmus

When when used with a definite article, it usually refers to the Greek Isthmus, connecting the Pelopones with the rest of Greece. Currently a tunnel passes through the Isthmus, making the Pelopones an island and no longer a peninsula.

Isth"mus . [L. isthmus, Gr. 'isqmo`s a neck, a neck of land between two seas, an isthmus, especially the Isthmus of Corinth; prob. from the root of 'ie`nai to go; cf. Icel. ei&edh; isthmus. See Issue.] Geog.

A neck or narrow slip of land by which two continents are connected, or by which a peninsula is united to the mainland; as, the Isthmus of Panama; the Isthmus of Suez, etc.

Isthmus of the fauces. Anat. See Fauces.

© Webster 1913.