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What is "vocal cords"

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
vocal cords
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ In addition to the ordinary vocal cords, the cat possesses a second pair of structures called vestibular folds, or false vocal cords.
▪ It explains the otherwise puzzling presence of the second, or false, pair of vocal cords.
▪ No vibration is caused by the vocal cords because they are not being put into action.
▪ Not surprising in that it no longer possessed vocal cords.
▪ Those corn-rows are murder on the vocal cords.
▪ When sounds are unvoiced, the vocal cords are relaxed to allow the air a completely free passage.
▪ With an effort, she made them part, and then her vocal cords let her down by refusing to work.
▪ Yelling for help for a week must be enough to knacker anybody's vocal cords.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Vocal cords

Vocal \Vo"cal\ (v[=o]"kal), a. [L. vocalis, fr. vox, vocis, voice: cf. F. vocal. See Voice, and cf. Vowel.]

  1. Of or pertaining to the voice or speech; having voice; endowed with utterance; full of voice, or voices.

    To hill or valley, fountain, or fresh shade, Made vocal by my song.
    --Milton.

  2. Uttered or modulated by the voice; oral; as, vocal melody; vocal prayer. ``Vocal worship.''
    --Milton.

  3. Of or pertaining to a vowel or voice sound; also, spoken with tone, intonation, and resonance; sonant; sonorous; -- said of certain articulate sounds.

  4. (Phon.) (a) Consisting of, or characterized by, voice, or tone produced in the larynx, which may be modified, either by resonance, as in the case of the vowels, or by obstructive action, as in certain consonants, such as v, l, etc., or by both, as in the nasals m, n, ng; sonant; intonated; voiced. See Voice, and Vowel, also Guide to Pronunciation, [sect][sect] 199-202. (b) Of or pertaining to a vowel; having the character of a vowel; vowel. Vocal cords or Vocal chords. n. pl. (Anat.) The two pairs of mucous membranes that project into the larynx, and which produce the sounds of speech by vibrating under the influence of air exhaled from the lungs. See Larynx, and the Note under Voice, n.,

    1. Vocal fremitus [L. fremitus a dull roaring or murmuring] (Med.), the perceptible vibration of the chest wall, produced by the transmission of the sonorous vibrations during the act of using the voice.

      Vocal music, music made by the voice, in distinction from instrumental music; hence, music or tunes set to words, to be performed by the human voice.

      Vocal tube (Anat.), the part of the air passages above the inferior ligaments of the larynx, including the passages through the nose and mouth.

Wiktionary
vocal cords

alt. (context chiefly in the plural English) Two folds of tissue located in the larynx that vibrate when air passes over them, producing the sound waves associated with talking and singing. n. (context chiefly in the plural English) Two folds of tissue located in the larynx that vibrate when air passes over them, producing the sound waves associated with talking and singing.